U.S. soldier Travis King, who fled to North Korea last year and was taken into custody there, will plead guilty to five counts, including desertion, while accepting responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said in a statement Monday.
The U.S. Army charged King with crimes ranging from desertion for fleeing to North Korea in July to attacking fellow soldiers and soliciting child pornography, Reuters reported late last year. After his release from North Korean custody in September, the Army charged him with 14 violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
His release followed weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations that resulted in the Swedish government picking King up from North Korea and taking him across the border to China to hand him over to the U.S. ambassador.
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“He will plead guilty to five of these 14 offenses, including desertion, three counts of insubordination to an officer and assault on a noncommissioned officer,” his lawyer said. “He will plead not guilty to the remaining offenses, and the Army will withdraw and drop the charges.”
King joined the Army in January 2021. He was arrested in South Korea on assault charges, to which he pleaded guilty. King would have faced disciplinary action in the United States upon his release from South Korean custody.
He was on his way home when he disappeared from Seoul’s international airport and headed off for a civilian tour of the border area between North and South Korea. King then sprinted across the border into North Korea. He was immediately taken into North Korean custody before being released last September.
The guilty plea and sentencing will take place on September 20 at Fort Bliss in Texas, the lawyer added.
