The North Korean government has announced the release of U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King, who had been held in detainment since July.
According to state-run news agencies, the North Korean government stated on Wednesday that it had decided to return King to U.S. custody.
"The relevant organ of the [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] decided to expel Travis King, a soldier of the U.S. Army who illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK, under the law of the Republic," reported the Korean Central News Agency, as translated by Yonhap News Agency.
Fox News Digital has confirmed that King has been handed over to U.S. authorities.
King had been held by North Korean authorities since July 18, when he allegedly ran away from a tour group and crossed into the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
During his detainment, there had been no contact with King, and North Korean officials had been unresponsive to U.S. inquiries.
According to a senior defense official, the incident occurred after King had spent approximately two months in a South Korean detention facility following a physical altercation with locals. Throughout his time in the facility, he expressed a desire not to return to the U.S., according to a U.S. official.
King was eventually released on July 10 and returned to Fort Bliss on Monday, where he could have faced further military discipline and discharge from the service. In South Korea, King had faced at least two other assault-related allegations.
In February, he was fined $3,950 after being convicted of assaulting an unidentified person and damaging a police vehicle in Seoul last October, according to a transcript of the verdict obtained by The Associated Press.
North Korea's state media reported that King had confessed to crossing into the North due to "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army."
"During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army," stated KCNA. "He also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society."
King's mother, however, disputed the reports from North Korea, stating that her son had no motivation to defect to the totalitarian nation.
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