Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea last year, was sentenced Friday to prison for time already served.
The king pleaded guilty to five counts: one count of desertion, one count of assaulting a non-commissioned officer and three counts of disobeying a lawful order.
He was sentenced by a military judge to 12 months in prison for desertion and one month for each of the four other charges. King has already served 338 days in prison.
Defense attorneys noted that King spent 63 days in North Korea in addition to his time in the United States.
King was also dismissed for misconduct, which the prosecution had requested. King and his attorneys had requested a “misconduct disbarment.”
“With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” King’s attorney, Frank Rosenblatt, said.
King, a private second class, crossed the DMZ separating South Korea and communist North Korea on July 18, 2023. He was part of a tour group in Panmunjom, South Korea, when he crossed the fortified area and entered North Korea where he was detained.
King was returned to the United States by North Korea in September of that year, following what the Defense Department called a “weeks-long diplomatic effort.”
“The outcome of today’s court-martial is fair and just, reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Private King, and will promote good order and discipline in the United States Army by deterring Soldiers from committing similar offenses in the future,” said Attorney Maj. Allyson Montgomery of the Office of the Special Counsel for the Army, quoted in an Army release.
King had been in the military since January 2021. He had been returned to the United States from South Korea after violating part of the joint security agreement and serving a sentence there, a senior U.S. administration official said at the time of the incident.
He had been escorted by military police as far as possible – to a security checkpoint at Incheon Airport, a commercial airport about an hour and a half from the DMZ.
But instead of continuing alone to the gate and flying back to the United States, King accompanied a group that had just arrived and was heading to Panmunjom, the official said.
King’s defense attorneys argued that he was encouraged to join the military by a recruiter and that he had difficulty adjusting and was the victim of racist incidents in his unit. King, who is black, wrote in a letter that his unit was unhappy and made racist remarks such as “Smile King, we don’t see you.”
The incident came five decades after another American soldier, James Dresnok, defected to North Korea in 1962 amid fears of court-martial.
According to his sons, Dresnok was in North Korea when he died of a stroke in 2016.
