Private Travis King, a junior enlisted soldier assigned to US Forces Korea, had faced assault charges in South Korea. He was due to be removed from the US military upon his return to Fort Bliss, Texas. But while he cleared customs, he did not get on the plane as scheduled on Monday. Instead, on Tuesday, he booked a tour with a private company of the Joint Security Area inside the demilitarized zone, which divides North and South Korea, an eyewitness says. The US believes he is still in North Korean custody but they do not have any details on his well-being or whether he is alive, officials say.. The White House said it was still working to determine exactly where King is, and what his condition is. “We are still gathering all the facts, it is still very early on,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “The administration has and will continue to actively work to ensure his safety and the return of Private King to us and to his family,” she said. The incident appears to stem from an incident in October of 2022, when King allegedly pushed and repeatedly punched a victim in Mapo-gu, Seoul court documents say. He had been found guilty during a military court hearing related to assault and other charges, though it’s unclear if it’s related to his time in the detention facility, defense officials tell CNN. The U.S. military has tried reaching out directly to the North Korean government to resolve the issue, officials said, but they have not yet received any response. “He was going so fast, and we were so close to the border, that he was gone by then,” an eyewitness said of King’s dash across the military demarcation line into North Korea on Tuesday July 18th. “Get him!” a soldier on the South Korean side yelled, according to the eyewitness, Sarah Leslie. But it was too late, she said, and King had already made a run for it across the border. The North Koreans picked him up by the North Koreans, and the US has had no contact at this point, Adm. John Aquilino, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, said on Tuesday. “But we’re still doing our investigation to find out exactly what happened,” he told CNN. “His case was similar to other cases of young men of drunk men,” one of the lawyers who represented King said of his early 20s, though he was not demoted in the military. “It’s unclear whether he’s been demoted,” the lawyer said, “but if he is, it’s not a big deal” King had served 50 days in a South Korean detention facility where he was accused of assaulting a man in a club in September, court papers say. The charges were ultimately dropped and he was transferred to US military police, but those charges were also dropped. The South Korean government has not commented on King’s disappearance, a US official says. He is believed to be in North Korea, but the US and North Korea have no diplomatic ties.
U.S. officials try to piece together why soldier bolted into North Korea. ‘He was going so fast’: US officials say soldier was ‘going so fast’
