Army Private Who Went AWOL To North Korea Tries To Make Deal

(PatriotWise.com) — The attorney representing the US Army Private charged with desertion for fleeing to North Korea in 2023 said last week that he is negotiating with military prosecutors to reach a plea deal in the case.

Private Travis King, who had spent two months in a South Korean jail for assault after he got into a drunken altercation with civilian police in which he shouted obscenities and kicked the patrol car, was being sent back to the United States in July 2023 to face charges of possessing child pornography and assault.

King was escorted to the airport in Seoul, South Korea for a flight to Texas but fled the airport after Army officials dropped him off. He made his way to a village near the border and walked across the DMZ into North Korea.

After allowing King to remain in North Korea for two months, Pyongyang abruptly expelled the private in late September 2023. He was turned over to US custody and flown to a Texas Air Force base.

The following month, the Army filed additional charges against King, including desertion, disobeying senior officers, and making false statements.

King was scheduled to appear in military court last Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. However, the hearing was postponed to allow time for prosecutors and the defense to negotiate a resolution to the case.

Defense attorney Franklin Rosenblatt told the Associated Press that the hearing had been postponed for two weeks while the negotiations were underway and could be canceled entirely if a deal was reached.

According to charging documents, the Army Private was also accused of kicking and punching senior officers and unlawful possession of alcohol.

King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said in a statement at the time of his desertion, that she had concerns about her son’s mental health. She suggested that King’s problems began after he enlisted in the Army, saying that the son she raised “did not drink” and would have nothing to do with child pornography.

Gates called for the “presumption of innocence” for her son and insisted that something must have happened to him during his deployment in South Korea.