Soldier who bolted into North Korea earlier this year charged with host of crimes – Law Officer

FORT BLISS, Texas – Private Travis King of the U.S. Army bolted into North Korea at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in July and was returned to American authorities in September. Now the military has charged the disgruntled soldier with a host of crimes ranging from desertion to possessing child pornography, according to a reports.

In total, King, 23, faces eight charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which also include making false statements and disobeying superior officers.

The Army charged him of broad misconduct — including a 2022 escape attempt while in military custody — prior to his decision to flee into North Korea while dressed as a civilian and part of a tourist group at the DMZ, according to Reuters.

King has also been charged with insubordination for leaving his base after curfew, drinking alcohol in violation of Army regulations, and he is accused of soliciting a Snapchat user in July 2023 to “knowingly and willingly produce child pornography.”

King’s decision to run across the border into North Korea occurred after he finished approximately two months in a South Korean detention facility following a physical altercation with locals officials and was facing further disciplinary action in the U.S., reported the Daily Wire.

In September 2022 and again in October 2022, King was involved in encounters, which required South Korean police officers to intervene.

In the September incident, King reportedly punched a man in the face at a local club. In October, he was accused of acting aggressively toward police officers responding to a call about a fight, court documents obtained by Reuters revealed.

Hence, he faced two assault allegations and was fined by a South Korean court for damaging a police car, according to a court ruling and a lawyer who represented him, Law Officer reported.

The South Korean court said during the incident that King shouted profanities aimed at officers and citizens while also damaging the police car when he was taken in for questioning.

“King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public goods stemming from an October incident, and on Feb. 8 the Seoul Western District Court fined him 5 million won ($4,000),” Reuters reported.

King, who enlisted 2021, was eventually returned from North Korea and into U.S. custody in September 2023. He was flown to a military hospital in Texas on Sept. 28 for medical and mental health evaluations, according to Fox News Digital.

King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said her son seems like a different person than she raised, yet asked that he “be afforded the presumption of innocence.”

“The man I raised, the man I dropped off at boot camp, the man who spent the holidays with me before deploying did not drink,” Gates said, according to Reuters. “A mother knows her son, and I believe something happened to mine while he was deployed. The Army promised to investigate what happened at Camp Humphreys, and I await the results.”

King is being held at a civilian jail just outside Fort Bliss, near El Paso, according to a family spokesman, The New York Times reported. He was moved there from Fort Sam Houston, near San Antonio, where he had been undergoing reintegration procedures.

King’s family has hired a legal team to defend him that includes Franklin Rosenblatt, who served as lead military defense counsel during the court martial proceedings against Bowe Bergdahl, family spokesperson Jonathan Franks said in a statement.

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