Travis King: Soldier who fled to North Korea to plead guilty to desertion and assault in court martial

CNN
—

The US soldier who fled across the border from South to North Korea is expected to plead guilty to desertion and assault as well as other charges as part of an agreement with prosecutors, according to his lawyer.

“US soldier Travis King will accept responsibility for his conduct and plead guilty. The Army has accused him of fourteen violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” King's lawyer Frank Rosenblatt said in a statement on Monday. “He will plead guilty to five counts, including desertion.”

In addition to desertion, King also pleaded guilty to disobedience of an officer and assault on a noncommissioned officer, according to Rosenblatt.

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

King's court-martial hearing, during which he will plead guilty, “explain what he did” and hear the verdict, is scheduled for Sept. 20 at Fort Bliss, Texas, Rosenblatt said.

“Travis is grateful to his friends and family who supported him and to everyone outside his circle who did not prejudge his case based on the initial allegations,” Rosenblatt said.

CNN had previously reported that King's legal team was in negotiations with military prosecutors.

King faces 14 charges on eight counts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including desertion, possession of child pornography, assault on a noncommissioned officer and disobedience to a superior officer. His case was taken over by the Army's Office of Special Trial Counsel in July, an office spokeswoman, Michelle McCaskill, previously told CNN.

CNN had previously reported that King's legal team was in negotiations with military prosecutors.

McCaskill confirmed that the Office of Special Trial Counsel and King's defense team had “reached an agreement on the guilty plea” and that he would remain in custody.

“If Pvt. King's guilty plea is accepted, the judge will sentence King according to the terms of the agreement,” McCaskill said. “If the judge does not accept the guilty plea, he may decide that the case will be tried before a contested court-martial.”

Military officials had previously said King, a cavalry scout, entered North Korea “willfully and without authorization” in July 2023 – about a week after he was released from a South Korean detention camp where he had been held for an October 2022 incident when he allegedly shoved and punched a victim at a Seoul club.

On the day he entered North Korea, he was escorted to the airport by army escorts and dropped off at a security checkpoint. Instead of boarding his flight, however, King left the airport and the next day took a tour of the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea.

A U.S. official previously said King ran across the demarcation line and initially tried 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 in a van and driven away.

North Korea claimed at the time that King “confessed to illegally entering the territory of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) because he harbored resentment against inhumane mistreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. military and was disillusioned with the unequal U.S. society.” CNN could not verify whether these were King's own words.

The U.S. received word last September that North Korea wanted to return King, CNN previously reported. On the day of his return to U.S. custody, a Swedish convoy took King to the North Korea-China border, where he was handed over to U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and U.S. Defense Attaché to China Brigadier General Patrick Teague. King was flown to Shenyang, China, and then to Osan Air Base in South Korea before departing for the U.S.