US soldier Travis King who entered North Korea pleads guilty to desertion, got punished with one-year sentence

A US soldier who entered North Korea illegally last year entered a plea deal on Friday, admitting guilt to desertion. He was given a 12-month prison sentence, according to his attorney. The lawyer said that the soldier was discharged due to excellent behavior and time served. Travis King was charged with fourteen counts stemming from his escape from South Korea into the North in July 2023 during a tour of the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the Korean Peninsula, and other occurrences.

As part of an agreement that was approved by a military judge on Friday, he did, however, enter guilty pleas to just five charges: assault on a noncommissioned officer, desertion, and three instances of disobeying an officer. According to a statement from Franklin Rosenblatt, King’s attorney, “the judge, under the terms of the plea deal, sentenced Travis to one year of confinement, reduction in rank to private (E-1), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonourable discharge.”

“With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” added the statement. “Travis King has faced significant challenges throughout his life, including a difficult upbringing, exposure to criminal environments, and struggles with mental health,” Rosenblatt stated. “All these factors have compounded the hardships he faced in the military.”

King’s guilty plea as part of a settlement was announced by the US Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel in a statement, which also stated that “”pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement, all other charges and specifications were dismissed. Prosecutor Major Allyson Montgomery stated in the statement, “The outcome of today’s court martial is a fair and just result that reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Pvt. King.” King had been stationed in South Korea at the time of the event, and he was scheduled to return to Texas for disciplinary proceedings following an inebriated bar fight and a term in South Korean detention.

Rather than comply, he left the airport in the Seoul region, went on a tour of the DMZ, and then snuck past the guarded border to be taken into custody by the authorities of the communist North. King had fled to North Korea, according to Pyongyang, to avoid “mistreatment and racial discrimination in the US Army.”