Travis King, the American soldier who fled South Korea to North Korea last year before being sent home, has been sentenced to one year in prison.
He was accused in particular of desertion and assault on a non-commissioned officer.
But with time already served and commendations for good conduct, the 24-year-old soldier is free, his legal team told the BBC.
At Friday’s hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the 14 military charges against him. The remaining charges were dropped.
He was questioned by the military judge about his decision to flee to North Korea in July 2023. King joined the military in January 2021 and was in South Korea as part of a unit rotation when he entered North Korea.
At his hearing Friday, King told military judge Lt. Col. Rick Mathew that he decided to flee the U.S. military because he was “dissatisfied” with his job and had been thinking about leaving for about a year before fleeing to North Korea.
“I wanted to desert the United States Army and never come back,” King said, according to reporters in the courtroom.
He also said he had been diagnosed with mental health issues, although he maintained he was fit to stand trial and understood the charges.
The king entered North Korea illegally while on a civilian visit to the village of Panmunjom, located in the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
He joined the civilian tour after being released from a South Korean prison where he served nearly two months on charges of assaulting two people and kicking a police car.
After his release, he was flown to the airport to return to Fort Bliss and face disciplinary action. But instead of boarding the plane, King joined the civilian tour and eventually fled to North Korea, where he was arrested by local authorities.
At the time, North Korean media reported that he fled due to “inhumane treatment” and racism within the U.S. military.
He became the first American to be detained in North Korea in nearly five years.
King was released two months later after “intense diplomacy,” U.S. officials said at the time. He was flown by State Department plane to a U.S. air base in South Korea.
