North Korean state media announced they will expel the U.S. soldier who crossed the country months ago after running off during a civilian border tour.
King will be expelled, according to the official news agency of North Korea after he admitted to entering the country illegally because he was “disillusioned about unequal U.S. society.”
However, after conducting an inquiry, Pyongyang “decided to expel Travis King.
The final findings of KCNA’s inquiry into King’s border crossing in July included the deportation decision.
He desired asylum in North Korea or somewhere else due to mistreatment and racial discrimination inside the army, according to interim findings published last month.
King’s border crossing came with relations between the two Koreas at one of their lowest points ever, with diplomacy stalled and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for increased weapons development, including tactical nuclear warheads.
Seoul and Washington have ramped up defence cooperation in response, staging joint military exercises with advanced stealth jets and US strategic assets.
Pyongyang has a long history of detaining Americans and using them as bargaining chips in bilateral negotiations.
One of the last US citizens to be detained by the North was student Otto Warmbier, who was held for a year-and-a-half before being released in a coma to the United States. He died six days later.
King’s defection to North Korea generated significant media intrigue back in July as news watchers tried to make sense of his actions
