Travis King charged by the Army with desertion for defecting to North Korea — and child porn.

 The US Army has charged defector Travis King with several offenses including desertion for sprinting into North Korea in July — as well as the solicitation of child pornography and other crimes dating back to at least last year.
The wide-ranging case against King, who spent over two months in the custody of North Korean law enforcement, includes eight distinct charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to court records obtained by Reuters.
The Army claims the private had the intention of abandoning his military duties permanently when he ditched his South Korean post by running across the demilitarized border into the totalitarian country.
He “did remain so absent in desertion until on or about 27 September 2023,” when the hermit kingdom released him back to the US, the court records state.
The Army’s charge sheet accuses King of broad misconduct before his defection into North Korea, including an alleged attempted escape from US military custody in October 2022.
King was also allegedly caught possessing child pornography and asked another individual over Snapchat to “knowingly and willingly produce child pornography” the same month he fled to North Korea, according to the charges.
The Wisconsin native was additionally hit with assault charges for allegedly targeting his fellow soldiers and insubordination for leaving his base after curfew and drinking alcohol in violation of Army regulations, the documents state.
The soldier’s family has stood behind King since he first bolted in July, stating he should “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,” his mother, Claudin Gates, said in a statement.
“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.”
The 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, the Army sergeant who was held for five years by the Taliban after walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009.
Details are still scarce about King’s treatment in North Korean custody and the soldier has not publicly explained why he fled to one of the world’s most reclusive nations.
King was supposed to be at the airport awaiting a flight to Texas before making the final trip home when he escaped.
He was facing military disciplinary charges — as well as a dishonorable discharge — back in the US after he was hit with two assault charges.
King was accused of punching a man several times in the face at a club in September 2022 and then, two weeks later, damaged the backseat of a police car in a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans after he was picked up for displaying “aggressive behavior.”

https://nypost.com/2023/10/20/army-charges-travis-king-with-desertion-for-defecting-to-north-korea-child-porn/?dicbo=v2-D96c1gJ

About that US serviceman who "defected" to North Korea ... seems like we're well rid of him. A tip o' the hat to Big Country Expat for the link to this Korean news report.
Legal sources here said Thursday that Pvt. Travis King, 23, received a 5 million-won ($3,955) fine from a court in Seoul on Feb. 8 on charges of inflicting damage on a police patrol vehicle.
King, however, did not pay the fine and was eventually detained in a prison workshop for 48 days in line with a court ruling that he be held for one day for each unpaid 100,000 won, the sources said.
He was accused of repeatedly kicking the back door of a police patrol vehicle in Seoul's Mapo district in the wee hours of Oct. 8 and inflicting damage that required 584,000-won worth of repairs.
King was apprehended by police at that time for suspected violence at a nightclub. He reportedly did not cooperate with police officers demanding his personal information and kicked the door of the police car while shouting foul language against Koreans and the Korean military, according to police investigations.
King was detained from May 24 to July 10 in a penitentiary in Cheonan, 85 kilometers south of Seoul, before being released and relocated to an American military base in South Korea for a weeklong stay. He was reportedly found to have fled Incheon International Airport on Monday afternoon while in the process of boarding a flight to Dallas.
King then willfully crossed the inter-Korean border into North Korea without authorization during a tour to the Joint Security Area on Tuesday and is believed to be in North Korea's custody, according to the United Nations Command and American defense authorities.
Interestingly, the US armed forces did not seek to have him do his time in a military jail, but were content to leave him in a Korean prison for the duration.  It's also reported that he was on his way back to the USA to serve another couple of months in military prison here, followed by a dishonorable discharge for bad conduct.
I suspect North Korea is about to find out (and may already have done so) that they made a very bad bargain when they let him in.  I suggest that, if they offer to return him, we should refuse.  We have enough problem children to deal with already.

 

It’s now being reported that the soldier that crossed the DMZ, may have defected to North Korea:
An American soldier, Pvt. Travis King, who has been detained in North Korea after crossing the border from South Korea laughed loudly as he sprinted away from a tour group, a witness has claimed.
The soldier shouted ‘ha ha ha’ as he made the mad dash while taking part in a Joint Security Area Tour, which takes sightseers through the area between North and South Korea.
In a further bizarre twist, it is claimed that the man had managed to join the tour after escaping disciplinary action from his US Army bosses over a separate incident. It’s not known why he faced disciplinary action.
The Korean Herald said the US national had ‘defected’ to North Korea.
Before the border incident, the soldier was being escorted back to the US and was taken through security at a nearby airport. But he somehow managed to flee and return into South Korea before joining the tour, according to CBS News.
The UN Command says it is now trying to negotiate his release. The incident happened at around 3.27pm local time on Tuesday (2.27am ET)
A witness told CBS News the tour group had just visited a building in the area when ‘this man gives out a loud “ha ha ha”, and just runs in between some buildings.’
‘I thought it was a bad joke at first, but when he didn’t come back, I realized it wasn’t a joke, and then everybody reacted and things got crazy,’ the witness said.
There was then a moment of panic before the rest of the group were escorted back to Freedom House, a border landmark, and asked to give statements before they taken away from the area by bus.
A US official told the Washington Post that the soldier had been scheduled on a recent flight but didn’t board. ‘This was a deliberate decision on part of the service member to cross,’ the official said.
Well if this isn’t the most bizarre thing I’ve heard in a long time. And it’s certainly going to complicate matters of his return.

 

https://therightscoop.com/breaking-us-soldier-being-detained-by-n-korea/