TEXAScTypeface:>Travis King, the US soldier who fled from South to North Korea last year before being returned home, has been sentenced to one year of confinement and dishonourably discharged from the military.
He faced charges including desertion in July 2023 and assault of a non-commissioned officer. But with time already served and credit for good behaviour, the 24-year-old Army private walked free, his legal team told the BBC.
At Friday’s hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the original 14 military charges that had been filed against him. The other counts were dismissed.
King joined the army in January 2021 and was in South Korea as part of a unit rotation when he crossed into North Korea.
At the hearing, King told military judge Lt Col Rick Mathew that he had decided to flee the US Army because he was “dissatisfied” with work and had been thinking about leaving for about a year before he bolted into North Korea.
“I wanted to desert from the US Army and never come back,” King said, according to reporters inside the courtroom.
He also said he had been diagnosed with mental health conditions, though he maintained he was fit to stand trial and understood the charges. (Agencies)
