North Korea will want a ‘price’ to return US Army defector Travis King, warns head of House Foreign Affairs committee

A senior US foreign affairs official fears that North Korea could set a “price” for a US soldier who defected to the country to be sent home.

US Army Private 2nd Class Travis King was facing disciplinary action for a series of alleged crimes in South Korea when he passed through the demilitarized zone into the communist country last Tuesday.

Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, now says the North Koreans may profit from the 23-year-old’s defection from Wisconsin.

“I’m sure he’s not being treated very well,” McCaul told ABC This Week’s Martha Raddatz on Sunday. I think it was a serious mistake on his part and I hope we can get it back.

“We see this with Russia, China, Iran: When they take an American captive, particularly a soldier, they demand a price for that,” he continued. And that is what worries me.

US Army Private 2nd Class Travis King was facing disciplinary action for a series of alleged crimes in South Korea when he passed through the demilitarized zone into the communist country last Tuesday.

Speaking of King’s decision to enter the communist country, McCaul suggested Sunday that he “was running away from his problems.”

“He was facing disciplinary charges and was scheduled to fly back to the United States,” McCaul explained.

That plane would have taken King to Texas, where he would face a hearing on “termination of foreign conviction administrative separation actions,” after serving 47 days in a South Korean detention center.

He had been detained for an assault case and reportedly also damaged a South Korean police vehicle.

“But instead, he didn’t get on the plane, he went with a tour group to the DMZ and then he ran across the line,” McCaul said. That is something that is simply not done.

King’s escape to the country comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea, with officials complaining in recent weeks about a US nuclear submarine docked in South Korea.

When asked about the ramifications of having the submarine so close to the authoritarian country, McCaul said it’s important for the United States to show strength.

“It’s a force projection that we need right now to deter aggression,” McCaul said of the USS Kentucky.

“We are seeing very aggressive aggression, not just from North Korea and the rockets being fired in the Sea of ​​Japan, but also the aggression that we are seeing from China.

“North Korea needs to know that we are there, that we have superiority with nuclear submarines,” McCaul explained.

‘We have to get into his head and [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping]He has the head that if you do something that is militarily aggressive, there will be consequences for that.

King, circled, is pictured during the tour moments before crossing the border into North Korea. His hat was bought at a gift shop in the DMZ.

King was scheduled to board a flight back to the United States to face a disciplinary hearing.

King was on a civilian tour of the truce village of Panmunjom on Tuesday when he crossed the Military Demarcation Line that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953.

King had been fined for assault while stationed in South Korea and had been detained for more than a month before being escorted to Incheon International Airport by the US military for a commercial flight to Dallas, Texas, according to US officials.

Once he cleared security, he told airline staff at the gate that he had lost his passport and returned to the terminal, an airport official said on condition of anonymity.

A tourist on the border tour captured King in a photograph moments before he entered the secretive communist state.

King is seen wearing a black T-shirt and hat purchased from a gift shop in the demilitarized zone as he looks across the border into the secretive communist country.

Witnesses said he laughed hysterically while running like mad after running from his military superiors and joining the tour.

The tourist who witnessed the King crossing and took the photo of the soldier, Sarah Leslie from New Zealand, said she initially believed it was a trick “for TikTok.”

The group left Seoul by bus early in the morning, and Leslie noticed that King was traveling alone and didn’t seem to talk to the others on the tour. At one point, she said, she bought a DMZ hat at a gift shop.

The tour was coming to a close on Tuesday afternoon, the group had just left the building and were hanging around taking photos, when he saw King running “very fast.”

“Initially I assumed that he had a partner filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or trick, like a TikTok, the stupidest thing you could do,” Leslie said. “But then I heard one of the soldiers yell, ‘Get that guy.'”

King had been ticketed for assault while stationed in South Korea and had been detained for more than a month.

His escape comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea, which has ruled in recent weeks on the docking of the USS Kentucky ballistic missile submarine in South Korea.

So far, North Korean officials have been silent on King’s status in the communist country, despite Biden administration officials reaching out through “multiple channels.”

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the US Army’s counterintelligence office and US forces in South Korea are now investigating what led King to make such a baffling decision.

Singh declined to directly answer a question about whether the Pentagon believed King was still alive. She said the US military could not provide any information on King’s condition.

We don’t know his status. We don’t know where he is being held. We don’t know the state of his health,’ Singh said, describing his formal status in the military as ‘AWOL’ or AWOL.

Meanwhile, King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said she just wants her son back.

‘Take my son home, take my son home and pray. Pray that he returns,’ he said. local television station WISN.

She also said she was “so proud” of her son, adding: “I just want him to come home, to come back to the United States.”

Gates, from Racine, Wisconsin, added: “I can’t see Travis doing something like that.”

Other family members suggested that King was not thinking clearly when he fled to North Korea.

“From what I know, I just heard that he, I guess, had a fight with some Koreans,” said his uncle, Myron Gates.

And it was kind of hard, you know, to believe in that too. Like, someone had to push him to do that because he’s not a violent type of person.

Myron and Carl Gates, King’s grandfather, said they were both confused and concerned for King’s well-being.

‘I was really surprised. I found out from my little niece, she had sent me a link and I read her name, Travis King. I’m like, huh? She just baffled me,” Myron Gates said.

‘I think something is wrong with him. He is not thinking straight. I don’t think he just runs like that. I can’t see that,’ Carl Gates said.

Speaking from her home in Racine, Wisconsin, Claudine Gates expressed her desire to get her son back and urged people to pray for his well-being.

“Someone had to push him to do that because he’s not a violent person,” said Myron Gates, uncle of US soldier Travis King.

Court records show King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public property stemming from an October incident, and was fined 5 million won ($4,000) by the Seoul Western District Court on February 8, according to a copy of the ruling reviewed by Reuters.

Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the soldier should face disciplinary action from the US military. It’s not clear if the disciplinary action was related to your conviction for damaging the police vehicle.

The Seoul court said on September 25 last year that King punched a man in the face multiple times at a club, but the case was settled.

Two weeks later, on October 8, police officers responded to a report of another altercation involving King and attempted to question him. He continued his ‘aggressive behavior’ without responding to police questions, according to the court document.

Police put him in the back seat of their patrol car where he yelled expletives and insults at Koreans, the Korean military and the Korean police, according to the ruling.

During his tirade, he kicked the door of the vehicle several times, causing around 584,000 won ($461) in damage, according to the ruling.

The court said the defendant admitted to the charges, had no criminal record, and paid 1 million won ($790) to repair the vehicle, citing reasons in his favor in the judgment.