The US soldier who fled to North Korea instead of obeying an order to return to the United States was sentenced at Fort Bliss this week.
While stationed in South Korea, Private Travis King was charged with crimes by South Korean police and ordered to leave the country by the Army.
He pleaded guilty to assault and destroying public property after being accused of damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to Reuters.
King chose to spend more than a month in a South Korean jail instead of paying a fine for his crime.
After being released from South Korean prison, he was supposed to fly back to Texas to face disciplinary but never boarded the flight.
On Friday, during a hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the original 14 military charges that had been filed against him.
“I wanted to desert from the US Army and never come back,” King said during the hearing, according to reporters inside the courtroom.
King ran into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA, often referred to as the Truce Village or Panmunjom), which separates South Korea and North Korea.
King’s lawyer, Franklin Rosenblatt, said King “faced significant challenges in his life, including a difficult upbringing, exposure to criminal environments, and struggles with mental health,” in a statement.
“All these factors have compounded the hardships he faced in the military,” he added.
After spending two months in North Korea, he was released back to the United States State Department and sent back to Fort Bliss for confinement in September of last year.
He was charged with desertion, kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement, and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity.
King pleaded guilty to charges including desertion, three counts of disobeying an officer and assault on a non-commissioned officer.
The judge dismissed all of the other charges after the US government made a motion to do so.
King was sentenced to one year of confinement and given a dishonorable discharge from the Army.
Since Pvt. King had already had credits for time served over the past year, he walked free from the hearing.
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