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  • Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed South Korea’s border into North Korea, is back in U.S.

    Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed South Korea’s border into North Korea, is back in U.S.

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    Travis King, the young American soldier who crossed the border on foot from South Korea into North Korea in July, was back in the U.S. early Thursday. A defense official confirmed to CBS News that a plane carrying King landed in San Antonio at about 1:30 a.m. EDT. King was seen on video being led away form the plane.

    North Korea announced Wednesday that it would expel King, with the totalitarian state’s tightly controlled media saying he had confessed to entering the country illegally.

    On Wednesday, King was first sent across North Korea’s border into China, where he was transferred to U.S. custody. U.S. officials said there were no concessions made by Washington to secure King’s release.  

    King was met by Nicholas Burns, the American ambassador to China, in the city of Dandong, which borders North Korea, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing later on Wednesday. His plane stopped in Shenyang, China, before continuing on to the U.S., where American officials said he would land at a military base.

    King appeared to be in “good health and good spirits as he makes his way home,” a U.S. official said, adding that he was also “very happy” to be coming back.

    Miller said that while he didn’t have specific information about King’s treatment in North Korean custody, it was likely that King was interrogated. “That would be consistent with past DPRK practice with respect to detainees,” he said.

    Travis King
    This family photo shows a portrait of American soldier Travis King displayed at the home of his grandfather Carl Gates, July 19, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

    Family Photo/AP


    In a statement Wednesday, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan thanked the Swedish government and China for their roles in arranging King’s release.

    Jonathan Franks, a representative for King’s family, shared a message from the soldier’s mother, Claudine Gates, on social media Wednesday, saying she would be “forever grateful to the United States Army and all its interagency partners for a job well done,” and requesting privacy for the family.

    King, a private 2nd class in the U.S. Army, entered North Korea while taking part in a guided tour of the border village of Panmunjom, which he joined after absconding from an airport in Seoul, South Korea, where he was supposed to have boarded a flight back to the U.S.

    North Korea previously claimed that King had told investigators he crossed the border because he “harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”

    The U.S. military said at the time that it could not verify those allegations.

    The soldier had been scheduled to return to the U.S. after serving time at a South Korea detention facility for assaulting two people and kicking a police car while in the country. After parting ways from his U.S. military escort at the airport, King skipped his flight and joined the civilian tour of the border town, where he ran across into North Korea.


    North Korea confirms American Travis King is there, says he’s escaping racism in U.S. Army

    04:18

    In an interview last month with The Associated Press, King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said her son had “so many reasons” to want to come home.

    “I just can’t see him ever wanting to just stay in Korea when he has family in America. He has so many reasons to come home,” she said.

    King has served in the U.S. Army since January 2021. He has not been deployed for active duty but was in South Korea as part of the Pentagon’s regular Korean Force Rotation.

    King is likely to have proven “unsuitable for propaganda purposes” to North Korea, Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul told CBS News, because the soldier entered North Korea as a fugitive, making it “difficult” for the country’s authorities to deal with him.

    Yang also told CBS News the decision to deport the soldier was likely made in part due to a “lukewarm” response to the incident by Washington.

    CBS News’ Cami McCormick in Washington, D.C., and Jen Kwon in Seoul contributed to this report.

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  • Army soldier who entered North Korea back in U.S.

    Army soldier who entered North Korea back in U.S.

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    Army soldier who entered North Korea back in U.S. – CBS News


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    Travis King, a U.S. Army private who crossed into North Korea this summer, is back in the U.S. after he was deported by North Korea Wednesday. King was flown to San Antonio, Texas, and will undergo medical screenings and evaluations.

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  • U.S. soldier Travis King deported by North Korea

    U.S. soldier Travis King deported by North Korea

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    U.S. soldier Travis King deported by North Korea – CBS News


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    U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King, who crossed the border from South Korea to North Korea in July, is back in U.S. custody after being deported by North Korea Wednesday. A senior U.S. official said King is in good spirits and has already spoken with his mother. King had fled into North Korea on the same day he was supposed to return to the U.S. to face military discipline for an assault conviction. Elizabeth Palmer has more.

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  • North Korea to ‘expel’ US soldier Travis King, who crossed from South, state media reports | CNN

    North Korea to ‘expel’ US soldier Travis King, who crossed from South, state media reports | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    North Korea has decided “to expel” US Army Private Travis King, who crossed into the North from South Korea during a tour of the joint security area in July, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.

    “The relevant organ of the DPRK decided to expel Travis King, a soldier of the U.S. Army who illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK, under the law of the Republic,” KCNA said. The report said the investigation into King “has been finished.”

    It is unclear from KCNA’s report where, when and how King would be expelled.

    King crossed the military demarcation line from South Korea into North Korea in July during a tour of the Joint Security Area inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ). King, a junior enlisted soldier assigned to US Forces Korea, had faced assault charges in South Korea and was due to return to Fort Bliss, Texas, and be removed from the military just one day before he crossed into North Korea, CNN previously reported.

    North Korea claimed on Wednesday that King has “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”

    CNN cannot verify whether these are King’s own words.

    National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last month that it “would not be out of character” for North Korea to use US soldier Travis King as a propaganda tool or bargaining chip.

    “They certainly could. … We haven’t seen any indication that that’s exactly what’s afoot here, but certainly would not be out of character for them,” Kirby told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “The Lead.” “What we’re focused on is trying to make sure we can get information about him.”

    Kirby added at that time that King’s location was unclear, as well as “the conditions he’s being held” and information about his health.

    This is a developing story. It will be updated…

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  • North Korea Says U.S. Soldier Bolted Into North After Being Disillusioned At American Society

    North Korea Says U.S. Soldier Bolted Into North After Being Disillusioned At American Society

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    SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday that a U.S. soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border last month did so after being disillusioned at the inequality of American society.

    Private 2nd Class Travis King entered North Korea while on a tour of a Korean border village, becoming the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.

    The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said King told investigators that he had decided to enter North Korea because he “harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”

    It says King also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country, saying that he “was disillusioned at the unequal American society.”

    North Korea says an investigation into King would continue.

    It’s North Korea’s first official comments on King, since his entrance to the North.

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  • Travis King’s sister says US soldier who crossed into North Korea is ‘not the type to just disappear’ | CNN Politics

    Travis King’s sister says US soldier who crossed into North Korea is ‘not the type to just disappear’ | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Family members of US Army Pvt. Travis King said Wednesday night that they had no reason to believe the soldier, who last month crossed the border between North and South Korea in the demilitarized zone separating the two nations, would defect from the US military.

    Jaqueda Gates, King’s sister, told Laura Coates on “CNN Primetime” that the family has not received more information about her brother’s whereabouts, but said that he is “not the type to just disappear.”

    “So, that’s why I feel like the story is deeper than that,” she said, adding: “I don’t I don’t believe that you just do vanished and ran away.”

    King – who the US military said “willfully and without authorization” crossed into North Korea while taking a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, a small collection of ​buildings inside the DMZ that has separated North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953 – is believed to be the first US soldier to cross into North Korea since 1982.

    As CNN previously reported, he had a history of assault, was facing disciplinary action over his conduct and was meant to go back to the US the day before the incident.

    Myron Gates, King’s uncle, told Coates that while the family has reached out to a variety of elected officials’ offices, the family has not heard from the Biden administration and wishes the White House would do more.

    “We wish they would come to our house to talk to us, and let us know something,” he said.

    The family, he said, has been contacted by family members of Otto Warmbier, who urged them to act. Warmbier, a US college student, had been detained in North Korea for 17 months after visiting in 2016 and died less than a week after returning to the United States in 2017.

    Jaqueda Gates detailed the toll her brother’s situation has taken on the family, saying it’s been hard to sleep as they wait for updates and that King’s absence has devastated their mother.

    “This is really, really hard on my mom, you know, that’s her baby boy,” Gates said.

    State Department spokesperson Matt Miller confirmed to CNN earlier Wednesday that the North Koreans had reached out to the United Nations Command in the last 48 hours about King, but said “it was not a substantive call” and there not seen “as progress in any way.”

    “The outreach that we have made to North Korea through diplomatic channels has still not been answered,” Miller said at a State Department briefing.

    Last week the deputy commander the United Nations Command, the force which runs the southern side of the Joint Security Area, said last week that a “conversation has commenced” with North Korea over King.

    In a statement sent to CNN on Thursday, UNC Director of Public Affairs Col. Isaac Taylor said: “The KPA [North Korean Army] has responded to the United Nations Command with regards to Private King. In order not to interfere with our efforts to get him home, we will not go into details at this time.”

    King’s family vowed Wednesday night to push for his return.

    “We’re gonna continue to fight for you and we ain’t gonna stop until you come home,” Myron Gates said.

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  • ‘Conversation has commenced’ with North Korea over US solider, United Nations Command says | CNN

    ‘Conversation has commenced’ with North Korea over US solider, United Nations Command says | CNN

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    Seoul, South Korea
    CNN
     — 

    A “conversation has commenced” with North Korea over US Army Pvt. Travis King, who crossed the border between North and South Korea last week in the demilitarized zone separating the two nations, the deputy commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) said Monday.

    King, believed to be the first US soldier to cross into North Korea since 1982, had a history of assault, was facing disciplinary action over his conduct and was meant to go back to the US the day before the incident.

    Gen. Andrew Harrison said the case of King is still under investigation and he could not provide further detail on the private, who the US military said “willfully and without authorization” crossed into North Korea while taking a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area, a small collection of ​buildings inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that has separated North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

    “There is a mechanism that exists under the armistice agreement, whereby lines of communication are open between the UNC and the Korean People’s Army, and that takes place in the JSA. That process has started,” Harrison told journalists at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club.

    He acknowledged that the answers he could provide were “disappointing,” but “I’m constrained by what I can say.”

    “You may not get the answers for what you’re desperate for,” Harrison told the journalists.

    The UN Command was making King’s welfare its primary concern as the process goes forward, he said.

    “Obviously, there is so much welfare at stake, and clearly we’re in a very difficult and complex situation which I don’t want to risk by speculation or going into too much detail about the communications that are existing,” he said.

    The UNC is a multinational military force that includes the United States which fought on the side of South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War.

    It controls the South Korean side of the JSA, the one place where the North and South can meet for talks.

    King has not been publicly seen or heard from since he crossed into North Korea last Tuesday. North Korea has also not said anything about the status or condition of the missing soldier.

    His reasoning for crossing the border into one of the world’s most authoritarian places – and a country which the US does not have diplomatic relations with – has so far remained a mystery.

    A US Army official told CNN the private was set to be administratively separated from the service when he returned to Fort Bliss in Texas.

    But before he could board an American Airlines flight from Incheon International Airport outside of Seoul last Monday, King bolted.

    “He passed through all the security points up to the boarding gate but he told the airline staff that his passport was missing,” an official at the Incheon airport told CNN. The airline staff then escorted him back outside to the departure side, the official said.

    King had reservations for a Joint Security Area tour for the next day and somehow made it to the excursion, joining other tourists as they went into the DMZ and the Joint Security Area, where he then ran into North Korea.

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