US soldier who fled to North Korea will plead guilty to desertion, other criminal charges, lawyer says

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Travis King, the U.S. Army private who last year ran into North Korea from South Korea, is expected to plead guilty to multiple criminal charges, including desertion, his lawyer said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

The U.S. Army has charged King with 14 offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, King’s attorney, Frank Rosenblatt said. 

King will plead guilty to five of those charges and not guilty to the remaining offenses, which the Army intends to dismiss, Rosenblatt said. 

In this photo taken in Seoul on August 16, 2023, a man walks past a television showing a news broadcast featuring a photo of US soldier Travis King (C), who ran across the border into North Korea while part of a tour group visiting the Demilitarized Zone on South Korea's border on July 18. (ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images)

King’s guilty plea will be entered at a general court-martial where he will explain his actions to military judge U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Rick Mathew. 

The guilty plea and sentencing will be held on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at 9 a.m. at Fort Bliss, Texas. 

"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. 

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The North Korean government released King last September after having held him since July 18, when he reportedly sprinted away from a tour group into the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. 

There was no contact with King during his capture, and North Korean officials were intentionally obtuse in responding to U.S. inquiries. 

The incident happened after King finished two months in a South Korean detention facility following a physical altercation with locals, a senior defense official previously Fox News. Throughout the time he was at the facility, he made comments that he did not want to come back to America. 

King was eventually released on July 10 and was sent home Monday to Fort Bliss, where he could have faced additional military discipline and discharge from service. King has faced at least two other assault-related allegations in South Korea. 

North Korea's state media reported that King confessed to crossing into the country because of "inhumane maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army."

King's mother disputed the reports from North Korea, saying that her son had no motivation to defect to the totalitarian nation.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Army for comment. 

Fox News Digital's Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Liz Friden contributed to this report.