North Korea says US soldier who crossed border will be expelled

North Korean state media announced Wednesday that the U.S. Army service member who crossed into the country in July will be expelled.

Travis King, who was serving in South Korea, sprinted across the border between North Korea and South Korea on July 18, the same day he was scheduled to return to the U.S. to face a court martial over a bar fight.

He is the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years. The state news release says North Korean officials have finished questioning him, but it did not say exactly when or where he would be returned.

The agency said King confessed to illegally entering North Korea because he harbored “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” within the U.S. Army and was “disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society,” according to The Associated Press. 

It’s unknown whether the comments attributed to King are authentic.

The sudden border crossing left relatives confused and concerned. King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said her son had “so many reasons” to want to come home. 

“I just can’t see him ever wanting to just stay in Korea when he has family in America. He has so many reasons to come home,” she told the AP last month.

King was declared AWOL by U.S. military authorities, which can be punished by jail time, fines or a dishonorable discharge from the military.