US SOLDIER WHO ENTERED NORTH KOREA WALKS FREE AFTER GUILTY PLEA. (PHOTO).

 US soldier who entered North Korea walks free after guilty plea

A US soldier, Travis King, who crossed into North Korea in July 2023, pleaded guilty to desertion and other charges as part of a plea deal and was sentenced to a year of confinement on Friday. With time served and credit for good behavior, King has been released, marking the end of a case that began when he fled to North Korea during a sightseeing tour of the Demilitarized Zone while stationed in South Korea.

A US soldier who crossed into North Korea last year pleaded guilty to desertion as part of a plea agreement Friday and was sentenced to 12 months of confinement, his lawyer said.

Because of good behavior and time served, the soldier was released, according to the lawyer.

Travis King was facing 14 charges related to him fleeing across the border from South Korea into the North in July 2023 while on a sightseeing tour of the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean Peninsula, and prior incidents.

But he pleaded guilty to just five -- desertion, assault on a noncommissioned officer, and three counts of disobeying an officer -- as part of a deal that was accepted on Friday by a military judge.

"The judge, under the terms of the plea deal, sentenced Travis to one year of confinement, reduction in rank to private (E-1), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge," a statement from King's attorney Franklin Rosenblatt said.

King’s attorney, Franklin Rosenblatt, said his client had faced “significant challenges” in his life, including a “difficult upbringing, exposure to criminal environments, and struggles with mental health.”

“With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” King’s attorneys said in a statement.

Military officials previously said that in July 2023 King “willfully and without authorization” crossed into North Korea shortly after he was released from a detention facility in South Korea. He was being held over an October 2022 incident in which he allegedly pushed and punched a victim in the face at a club in Seoul, according to court documents.

King, a cavalry scout, was supposed to board a flight to the United States where he was to face disciplinary procedures for the 2022 incident. He was escorted to a security checkpoint at the airport in Seoul and expected to return to the US. But instead of boarding the flight, King left the airport. One day later, King joined a tour of the Joint Security Area in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea from which he fled across the demarcation line and into Pyongyang’s custody.

North Korea claimed at the time that King “confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK (North Korea) as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society.” CNN could not verify whether those were King’s own words.

Several months later, the US received word that North Korea wanted to return King. He was ultimately taken by a Swedish convoy to China, where he met the US ambassador to China and the US defense attache on his way back to the United States.