American soldier Travis King in U.S. custody after North Korea expulsion
When King fled into North Korea, he was a cavalry scout who had just served a 47-day sentence in a South Korean prison after he allegedly kicked a South Korean squad car and damaged it.
The U.S. soldier who drew international attention when he fled into North Korea this summer is back in U.S. custody, according to a U.S. official.
The confirmation came after North Korea said Wednesday it was expelling Pvt. Travis King, who bolted across one of the world's most heavily weaponized borders into the country in July.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said an investigation of King had been completed. It claimed King confessed that "he illegally entered the territory of the Republic out of antipathy toward inhumane abuse and racial discrimination within the U.S. military, and disillusionment with the unequal American society."
The report from North Korea state media did not say when King would be released, or to where.
The U.S. official who confirmed King is in U.S. custody spoke on the condition of anonymity.
U.S. soldier detained in North Korea:He got there on a tour bus
King ran into the North from South Korea during a tour of the joint security area that separates the two Koreas. It is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world and divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half along the cease-fire line between the two nations that has existed since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The Pentagon said in July that King crossed into the North "willfully and without authorization."US soldier detained in North Korea:Everything we know about Travis King
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