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American Soldier Travis King in US Custody After Fleeing to North Korea

by Carla Babb

   Luanda, Angola --

   American soldier Travis King, who illegally crossed into North Korea in
   July is now in U.S. custody, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

   Earlier, North Korea said it was expelling King after wrapping up its
   final investigation of him. He was taken by North Korean soldiers in
   July after dashing through the Koreas' heavily militarized border.

   King was facing pending administrative separation from the U.S. Army
   when he returned to his base in Fort Bliss, Texas, after spending time
   in a South Korean jail on assault charges. He was about to board a
   plane to the United States on July 17 when he snuck out of the airport
   and made it onto a civilian tour of the border complex between North
   and South Korea one day later.

   King was taken by North Korean soldiers on duty at the Joint Security
   Area, KCNA reported, when the plain-clothed soldier "deliberately
   intruded into the area of the DPRK side between the room for the
   DPRK-U.S. military contacts and the restroom of security officers along
   the Military Demarcation Line."

   The North's official news agency, KCNA, said Wednesday that King had
   harbored ill feelings over inhumane treatment and racial discrimination
   within the U.S. army. It added that North Korea's interim findings were
   that King wanted refuge in North Korea or elsewhere because of that
   same reason.
   The Military Demarcation Line is the official border separating the two
   Koreas, put in place by an armistice that paused the 1950-1953 Korean
   War, which remains without a formal end and peace treaty.

   Eunice Kim contributed to this report.