Travis King, the American soldier who fled across the border from South Korea to North Korea in July, has landed at a US military base in Texas after being taken back into US custody.
CNN reported that King arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston on a US military flight in the early hours of Thursday morning.
According to senior administration officials, he had crossed the Chinese border on Wednesday, and Chinese authorities handed him to the US embassy, who then arranged for the army private to be flown to a US military base in the region, from where he was flown back to the US.
King is expected to undergo a medical review at Brooke Army Medical Center, a hospital at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. The basketball player Brittney Griner was treated there in December after a prisoner swap with Russia ended her 10 months in Russian detention.
The US government has said that upon his return, King will first undergo evaluation and then a reintegration process so he can be reunited with his family.
King was about to be flown out of South Korea in July, after serving two months in a South Korean prison for assault. He was under military escort to a plane at Incheon airport near Seoul, to face further possible disciplinary action in the US, but he did not board his plane and left the airport. He joined a tour group going to the demilitarised zone between South and North Korea, and ran across the border on 18 July, reportedly laughing as he did so.
North Korean state media reported that King had defected because of his “inhumane treatment” and racial discrimination within the US army.
US officials briefing the press on Wednesday did not comment on his motivations but insisted he had returned willingly.
“We can confirm that Private King was very happy to be on his way home. That has been quite clear as we have resumed our contact with him, and he is very much looking forward to being reunited with his family,” a senior US official said.
The US was first informed that North Korea (formally known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, DPRK) was ready to let King go home earlier this month, with the news coming from the Swedish government, which serves as Washington’s “protecting power” in Pyongyang, representing US interests through Sweden’s embassy in Pyongyang. Intensive negotiations followed involving Sweden, the UN, China and North Korea leading up to Wednesday’s transfer.
“The private was transferred out of the DPRK across the border to China, with the help of the government of Sweden. The United States has been able to receive him in China, and is now in the process of transferring him home,” a US official said. The state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said King had been handed over to the US ambassador, Nicholas Burns, and the defence attaché in Beijing, Brig Gen Patrick Teague.
The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “We thank the government of Sweden for its diplomatic role serving as the protecting power for the United States in the DPRK and the government of the People’s Republic of China for its assistance in facilitating the transit of Private King.”
The White House pointed out that King’s return showed the value of keeping lines of communication open even to states with whom the US has bad relations, and officials stressed that Washington remained open to further diplomacy with North Korea.
On the issue of any legal or disciplinary action King might face on the return to the US, a US official said that would be considered after a medical and psychological assessment.
“When he arrives on US soil, he will be evaluated by [a] very talented, experienced team that are going to guide him through a reintegration process,” the official said. “They’ll address any medical and emotional concerns and ensure we get him in a good place to reunite with his family … and we’ll work through all those administrative status questions following completion of his reintegration.”
