PHOTO: US soldier who ‘defected’ to North Korea and sped away in a van after being released from South Korean jail for kicking a police car while his mother slaps claims he has fled and just ‘wants me to come home’

A US soldier who had served nearly two months in a South Korean prison fled across the heavily armed border into North Koreabecoming the first American detained in the north in almost five years.

Private 2nd Class Travis King had been detained on assault charges and was released on July 10 after serving his sentence.

Instead of hopping on a plane that would take him back to Fort Bliss, Texas, he left and joined a tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom, where he ran across the border, US officials say.

His arrest came before North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea early Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades.

However, his mother has spoken out, denying claims she was on the run and saying she desperately wants her son to come home.

‘I’m so proud of him. I just want her to come home, to come back to the United States,” Claudine Gates told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Gates added that he could not see his son fleeing and entering North Korea on purpose.

According to officials, King, 23, was taken to the airport and escorted through customs.

But instead of getting on the plane, he left the airport and then joined a tour of the Korean border village of panmunjom.

He ran across the border, which is crowded with guards and often packed with tourists, on Tuesday afternoon local Korean time.

The military released his name and limited information after King’s family was notified of the incident.

But several US officials provided additional details on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

It was not clear how he got to the border or how he spent the hours between leaving the airport on Monday and crossing the border a day later.

At a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the US service member was now likely in North Korean custody.

King ran across the border, which is crowded with guards and often packed with tourists, on Tuesday afternoon local Korean time.

At a Pentagon news conference on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that the US service member was now likely in North Korean custody.

“We are closely monitoring and investigating the situation,” Austin said, noting that he was most concerned about the well-being of the troops. “This will unfold over the next few days and hours, and we’ll keep you posted.”

According to Army spokesman Bryce Dubee, King is a cavalry scout who joined the service in January 2021. He was in Korea as part of the 1st Armored Division.

The US-led UN Command said he is believed to be in North Korean custody and the command is working with its North Korean counterparts to resolve the incident. North Korean state media did not immediately report the border crossing.

Cases of Americans or South Koreans defecting to North Korea are rare, although more than 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea to avoid political oppression and economic hardship since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that between 3:30 and 3:46 a.m., North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area near the capital Pyongyang, which flew about 341 miles before landing in waters east of the Korean Peninsula.

Those flight details were similar to the Japanese military’s assessment, which said the missiles fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there were no immediate reports of ship or aircraft damage in the affected areas.

The flight distance of the North Korean missiles roughly matched the distance between Pyongyang and the South Korean port city of Busan, where the USS Kentucky arrived Tuesday afternoon in the first visit by a US nuclear submarine to South Korea since the 1980s.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters the North Korean missiles traveled on a low trajectory, with a maximum altitude reaching about 31 miles, and possibly demonstrated “irregular maneuvering” in flight.

Japan has previously used similar language to describe the flight characteristics of a North Korean weapon modeled on Russia’s Iskander missile, which travels at low altitudes and is designed to be maneuverable in flight to improve its chances of evading missile defenses.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea early Wednesday in what appeared to be a statement of defiance as the United States deployed a nuclear-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in decades.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff condemned the North Korean launches as a “great provocation” that threatens peace and stability in the region and said the South Korean and US militaries were closely monitoring the North for further weapons activity.

Tuesday’s border crossing occurred amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s barrage of missile tests since early last year.

USA Nuclear-armed submarine visits South Korea on Tuesday for the first time in four decades in the deterrence against North Korea.

Wednesday’s launches marked North Korea’s first ballistic activity since July 12, when it flight-tested a new solid-fueled ICBM that demonstrated potential range to reach deep into the continental United States.

The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of ​​using foreign detainees to extract diplomatic concessions. Some foreigners have said after their release that their guilty pleas were coerced while in North Korean custody.