North Korea has claimed that American soldier Travis King needed refuge overseas to flee “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” within the US and the army.
That is Pyongyang’s first public acknowledgment of Mr King’s presence in its territory since he crossed from South Korea on 18 July.
Mr King was touring with a tour group to the border between North and South Korea when he ran throughout and surrendered himself to North Korean forces.
He had beforehand been detained for greater than 40 days on an assault and destruction of personal property conviction in South Korea. He was scheduled to return house, however skipped on his return journey, after which he fled into the North.
“Throughout the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had determined to return over to the DPRK as he harboured in poor health emotions in opposition to inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination throughout the US military,” the state-run information company KCNA stated on Wednesday.
“He additionally expressed his willingness to hunt refugee within the DPRK (Democratic Folks’s Republic of Korea) or a 3rd nation, saying that he was disillusioned on the unequal American society.”
It added that Mr King was “stored beneath management by troopers of the Korean Folks’s Military” and they’re nonetheless probing the circumstances surrounding Mr King.
Whereas Mr King’s feedback couldn’t be independently verified, his uncle, Myron Gates, advised ABC Information earlier in August that his nephew was experiencing racism throughout his army deployment, and after he frolicked in a South Korean jail, he didn’t sound like himself.
Whereas the US officers declare that North Korea has thus far not given a substantive response to the knowledge request, the Pentagon added that they might not confirm Mr King’s statements both.
“We stay centered on his secure return,” a Pentagon spokesperson stated. “The division’s precedence is to deliver Personal King house, and that we’re working by all obtainable channels to attain that consequence.”
“It’s additionally a possibility for the regime propaganda to do its factor – to spin the scenario in such a means as to criticise the US and specific Pyongyang’s deep-rooted hostility in direction of Washington,” stated Soo Kim, an professional with Virginia-based consultancy LMI and a former CIA analyst.
Earlier, Mr King had pleaded responsible to assault and damaging a police automobile whereas shouting profanities at Koreans, in line with courtroom paperwork.
Starting on 24 Could, Mr King was sentenced to serve in a labour camp on the Cheonan correctional facility, which is meant to deal with US army members and different foreigners who’re convicted of crimes in South Korea.
Mr King was slated to face disciplinary motion upon his return to his house base at Fort Bliss in Texas.
Further reporting from the wires