Soldier who fled to North Korea expected to plead guilty to desertion and assault at court martial

By Haley Britzky, CNN

(CNN) — The US soldier who ran across the border from South to North Korea is expected to plead guilty to desertion and assault among other charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, according to his lawyer.

“US Army Private Travis King will take responsibility for his conduct and enter a guilty plea. He was charged by the Army with fourteen offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” a statement from King’s attorney, Frank Rosenblatt, said Monday. “He will plead guilty to five of those, including desertion.”

In addition to desertion, King is pleading guilty to disobeying an officer, and assaulting a noncommissioned officer, according to Rosenblatt.

He is expected to plead not guilty to other charges, including possession of child pornography, which Rosenblatt said he expects the Army to withdraw.

King’s court martial hearing, during which he will plead guilty, “explain what he did,” and receive his sentence, is scheduled for September 20 at Fort Bliss, Texas, according to Rosenblatt.

“Travis is grateful to his friends and family who have supported him, and to all outside of his circle who did not pre-judge his case based on the initial allegations,” Rosenblatt said.

CNN previously reported that King’s legal team was in plea negotiations with military prosecutors.

King was facing 14 counts of eight total charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, possession of child pornography, assaulting a noncommissioned officer, and disobeying a superior officer. His case was taken over by the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel in July, a spokesperson from the office, Michelle McCaskill, previously told CNN.

CNN previously reported that King’s legal team was in plea negotiations with military prosecutors.

McCaskill confirmed that the Office of Special Trial Counsel and King’s defense team “have negotiated a plea agreement” and confirmed he will remain in pretrial confinement.

“If Pvt. King’s guilty plea is accepted, the judge will sentence King pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement,” McCaskill said. “If the judge does not accept the guilty plea, the judge can rule that the case be litigated in a contested court-martial.”

Military officials previously said that King, a cavalry scout, “willfully and without authorization” crossed into North Korea in July 2023 — roughly a week after he was released from a detention facility in South Korea where he’d been held over an October 2022 incident when he allegedly pushed and punched a victim at a club in Seoul.

The day he crossed into North Korea, he was taken to the airport by Army escorts who left him at a security checkpoint. Instead of boarding his flight, however, King left the airport and the next day joined a tour of the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

A US official previously said King bolted across the demarcation line and originally attempted to enter a facility on the North Korean side of the line, but the door was locked. He then ran to the back of the building where he was put into a van and driven away.

North Korea claimed at the time that King “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK (North Korea) as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society.” CNN could not verify if those were King’s own words.

The US received word that North Korea wanted to return King last September, CNN previously reported. The day of his return to US custody, a Swedish convoy took King to the border between North Korea and China where he was handed off to the US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, and US Defense Attache to China Brig. Gen. Patrick Teague. King was flown to Shenyang, China, and then to Osan Air Force Base in South Korea, before he departed for the US.

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