President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, thanked China on Wednesday for its alleged role in helping return Private 2nd Class Travis King to the United States from North Korea, suggesting Washington required the aid of an adversarial communist government to rescue a U.S. soldier.
King is believed to have been in the custody of the repressive and mercurial North Korean government since he disappeared on July 18. King was reportedly expected to take a flight out of South Korea’s Incheon Airport that day but abruptly booked a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. While there, he ran across the border into North Korea and had not been seen until American officials confirmed his return to American custody this week.
A tourist from New Zealand captured a photo of U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King shortly before he ran into North Korea from the Demilitarized Zone that separates it from South Korea (TMX).
“This man gives out a loud ‘ha ha ha,’ and just runs in between some buildings,” an unnamed eyewitness in the same tour group told CBS News at the time.
North Korean state media announced on Wednesday that it had opted to “expel” King from the country after an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his entry, on the grounds that he had entered illegally. Pyongyang has repeatedly claimed that King did so out of animosity towards the alleged systemic racism in the United States. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the flagship government media outlet, repeated the claims on Wednesday, asserting King “harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”
King is reportedly in transit to the United States after arriving in South Korea on Wednesday, the South Korean outlet Yonhap reported that day.
Sullivan confirmed the liberation of King in a statement on Wednesday thanking the Chinese Communist Party.
“U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We appreciate the dedication of the interagency team that has worked tirelessly out of concern for Private King’s wellbeing,” Sullivan said. “In addition, we thank the government of Sweden for its diplomatic role serving as the protecting power for the United States in the DPRK and the government of the People’s Republic of China for its assistance in facilitating the transit of Private King.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning acknowledged Sullivan’s statement on Thursday but refused to offer any details as to why the Biden administration was thanking China for an issue involving one of America’s most virulent enemy states – and one of China’s closest allies.
“At the request of the DPRK and the US, China provided necessary assistance in the spirit of humanitarianism,” Mao said without elaborating.
Yonhap, citing the U.S. State Department, claimed that North Korea expelled King through a roundabout journey into China, rather than simply sending him across the inter-Korean border.
“Having left the North, King arrived in the Chinese border city of Dandong and flew to another Chinese city, Shenyang, and then to Osan Air Base in South Korea, where he was transferred to the Department of Defense, before departing for the U.S.,” Yonhap explained.
The North Korean government’s decision to apparently deport King without incident is unprecedented, though King’s decision to defect to North Korea is not. According to the Korea JoongAng Daily, at least six other American soldiers have crossed into North Korea since 1962 from the South, where America maintains a robust military presence as a result of the never-resolved Korean War. The six soldiers crossed between 1962 and today, and nearly all rebuilt their lives in the communist autocracy. The North Korean regime kept them as hostages and propaganda tools.
North Korea has also regularly detained civilian Americans to use as bargaining chips with the United States for sanctions relief or other benefits. The most notorious recent case of this phenomenon is the case of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, who was arrested while on vacation in Pyongyang for allegedly defacing a communist propaganda poster and tortured to death.
(INSET: Otto Warmbier) US President Donald Trump (R) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un sit for a dinner at the Sofitel Legend Metropole hotel in Hanoi on February 27, 2019 (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images).
American officials have yet to offer details about King’s current state, including if he shows signs of torture or other ill treatment.
Experts speculated on Wednesday that King’s rapid expulsion is the result of the regime of dictator Kim Jong-un’s conclusion that King did not have much diplomatic value. King, Sejong Institute analyst Cheong Seong-chang said, “simply wasn’t worth keeping, possibly because of the cost of providing him food and accommodation and assigning him guards and translators when he was never to be a meaningful source of U.S. military intelligence.”
Prior to running into North Korea, King had faced legal troubles in South Korea. He had recently concluded a two-month prison sentence in the country for assault against Korean citizens. According to the regional news site NK News, court documents showed that King was arrested after “punching a South Korean national in the face multiple times after a drunken altercation at a Seoul club at 9:40 a.m.” In a separate incident, police arrested him “after receiving a report about him assaulting another person. He continued being ‘aggressive’ toward the victim and police officers and was detained in a patrol car.”
During the latter incident, reportedly in October 2022, King shouted, “Fuck Korean, fuck Korean army, fuck Korean police” and kicked a police car.
King may have been facing discipline within the U.S. military upon his planned return to Texas in July before he decided to run into North Korea.
Private 2nd Class Travis King is being detained by North Korea after he crossed the border into the country (Carl Gates).
American officials repeatedly emphasized in July that King decided to enter North Korea on his own and was not acting under any orders from the U.S. government.
“A U.S. Service member on a JSA orientation tour willfully and without authorization crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident,” Col. Isaac Taylor, USFK Public Affairs, said at the time.
The North Korean government took nearly a month to confirm publicly that it had custody of King.
“At 15:30 on July 18, King, who accompanied tourists to the joint security area of Panmunjom, came to be kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People’s Army on duty,” KCNA revealed after a month of silence, “as he deliberately intruded into the area of the DPRK [North Korea] side between the room for the DPRK-U.S. military contacts and the rest room of security officers along the Military Demarcation Line.”
“According to an investigation by a relevant organ of the DPRK, Travis King admitted that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK,” the KCNA report continued. “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.”
American officials have not confirmed at press time any North Korean claims about King’s attitudes towards “racial discrimination.” King has also yet to appear in public or make any statements at press time.
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