North Korea: US Soldier Fled Mistreatment
Propaganda Windfall
US Army Private Travis King was facing an administrative separation from the service upon his return from South Korea.
The 23-year-old cavalry scout was stationed there with the 1st Armored Division. He was arrested in 2022 October following an altercation with two South Koreans. He also damaged a police patrol car.
King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public goods and was fined by the Seoul Western District Court. King had been held on assault charges and was being sent back to Fort Bliss, Texas.
According to officials he was taken to the airport and escorted as far as customs. Instead of boarding his aircraft he left the airport and joined a tour of Panmunjom. King then bolted across the border.
US soldier bolted after ‘mistreatment’ in the Army, North Korea says
By Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea asserted Wednesday that a U.S. soldier who bolted into the North across the heavily armed Korean border last month did so after being disillusioned with the inequality of American society and racial discrimination in its Army.
It’s North Korea’s first official confirmation of the detention of Private 2nd Class Travis King, who entered the North while on a tour of a Korean border village on July 18. He became the first American detained in the North in nearly five years.
The North Korean official news agency, KCNA, said King told investigators that he had decided to enter North Korea because he “harbored ill feeling against inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”
The soldier who crossed the North Korean border Tuesday had previously been arrested in South Korea for getting into a fight with two South Korean nationals, and for damaging a police car, Army Times has learned.
PV2 King is doubtless enjoying the good will and bonhomie afforded to guests of The Hermit Kingdom, and here’s yet another opportunity to excel for Joe’s Handlers on the international stage. They’re doubtless negotiating his triumphant return.
Category: Crime, International Affairs, North Korea
Sure, “mistreatment”, “radical discrimination”, and “inequality”…
He’ll enjoy “the good life” while they Norks exploit him for propaganda. The useful will be crying to come back within a year. Its at that point he can then face real charges for desertion and others offenses.
He was / is a douche bag while on this side of the border, now he can be one on that side. Since he is now their problem, I fail to see the downside of the situation.
Concur. PV2 King is now THEIR douchebag.
Got some big shoes (for his dumb ass, anyway) to fill… hope he likes making propaganda fills and a random kidnapped Japanese mail-order bride for the next 40 years:
Rules are rules but they should have never let this dumbass wear the uniform, even at his Court Martial.
Save Our Tax Dollars And Let Him Stay There.
“Travis King Told Officials He Wouldn’t ‘Return To America’ Nearly A Year Before Fleeing To North Korea”
https://nypost.com/2023/07/22/travis-king-showed-signs-of-defecting-before-fleeing-to-n-korea/
“American soldier Travis King had shown signs of possibly defecting from the Army nearly a year before he fled into North Korean territory, telling military officials while serving in South Korea that he would not “return to post or America.”
“It was not the first sign of trouble for the Wisconsin native, who was facing assault allegations over a fight at a club on Sept. 25.”
“Weeks earlier, on Sept. 4, while serving at Camp Bonifas near the southern end of the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, King skipped out on his daily formation and took off to a nearby city.”
“When the base managed to reach King, who served as a cavalry scout, he “refused to return to post or America,”
“King was later found in the city of Uijeongbu, roughly 25 miles southeast of Camp Bonifas.”
“King, who reportedly shouted “ha ha ha” during his mad dash into North Korea, was heading to Fort Bliss after spending nearly two months at a South Korean detention center over the assault charge.”
“He faced a dishonorable discharge from the Army over his conviction.”
“The soldier previously had been fined roughly $3,950 for damaging a South Korean police car in October.”
you just KNOW there is some SGM in the chain of command blaming his team leader/squad leader/PSG for this idiot and his little shit show.
I’m not sure what they were thinking by putting this asshat on a commercial flight, unescorted. IIRC, there used to be a “chapter flight” out of Osan. I escorted a couple of dumbasses to the stairs for their trip home.
I know it’s not the same Army I served in (89-92) but back in my day, a private would not be sent on any official trip without an NCO escort, even if it was a trip to an award ceremony, much less a trip ending with adverse administrative action.
Seems suspicious…
Suspiciously stupid. His escort never should have left the security checkpoint until PV2 King was known to be on board and that aircraft was wheels up.
Unfortunately, Jack Nicholson was not available to escort him properly.
Hoping he’d skip on the way back and get dropped from rolls as a deserter (Hello, FBI?) after a month? Problem solved!
But folk don’t do things like that, do they?
The bigger question is what lieutenant came up with the moronic policy of cutting dirtbags loose at Incheon International, and who is the Colonel that approved it?
I’m going to guess the S1 cut travel orders for him like it was any other early return from overseas without any care that he was his companies special child. Those orders probably included travel via US flagged carrier and he got a ticket issued as such. I really believe he should have been in uniform, flying Big MAC back to the states with at least one NCO escorting his ass. I would bet good money, even if he had caught his flight back to the states, he never would have made his connecting flight out of SeaTac, or LAX. If he had done that instead, he would have never even made the news.
Bingo. Soldiers leaving the ROK for any other reason besides DEROS or ETS flew MAC out of Osan. And you’re correct, he probably would’ve disappeared once he hit the states. But, better to have him AWOL than in North Korea.
Want to bet someone in 8th Army HQ is furiously drafting a new policy on early return for adverse action soldiers?
Shipped back to the States in a crate with air holes drilled in it.
I’d bet there’s already a policy that wasn’t followed.
They bet on a ‘tard being retarded and he overdid it– Murphy’s Law strikes again!
Always strive to turn your assumptions into facts or, at least, worst case assumptions when making a plan. (Of course, he’ll wait ’til SeaTac or LA before going AWOL– why would he want to stay in a foreign country where he sticks out like a sore thumb, that’d be stupid?!) When you assume, you make an ASS out of yoU and ME!
I also remember reading (briefly, one time, then “POOF!”) that the escort was not allowed beyond the security gate by the (Korean equivalent of) TSA. So Kang was allowed to wander, UNescorted, in the airport concourses, jump lines, and join the Panmunjom tour group.
Maybe not Dishonorable, but a Bad Conduct one (if they’re going to court martial him) or an Other Than Honorable admin chapter separation (if not).
But, what can they give away for this turd?
Nothing is worth the price of freedom.
He needs to stay in NORK land forever to ensure no one ever disrespects him again. If anything we need to send Bowe Berghdahl and Chelsea Manning with him so that they can be free too. Actually I have a lengthy list of people that need to go there to appreciate the freedom and equity that only the NORKs provide. It’s only the way to escape the despotic and horrid conditions in the US.
Word
Bottle of Soju?
Hey, now. Let’s not get too hasty here. I’ve never had Soju but have heard stories. However, we have a surplus of a well-known lower calorie beer taking up space in warehouses and getting dumped down the drain. Maybe send all of that product to the NORKS to KEEP this clown.
It’s gotten better/cheaper with computer-aided distilling lately, but previously wasn’t much to write home about (which most folk would rather not after lots of it).
That looks like the brand of soju my dentist gave me!🤣 I’ll have to confirm when I get home.
A couple gallons of kim chi and a bucket of KFC Original Recipe.
Who knows, catch them on an extra-hungry day and the NORKs might go for it, you know they have already figured out what a shitbag he is.
Just tell the Norks that the deal gets worse and even goes negative (i.e. they have to pay us to take him back) the longer they have him.
Since the Korean war never actually ended, we can prosecute this bum for desertion in the face of the enemy. He has declared he does not want to return, establishing the case for desertion, and the Norks are still the enemy since the war is not over.
He served with honor and dignity. Of course, that honor and dignity was in a South Korean prison, but still…
Can’t wait until he says some doofus crap to an NK officer and gets night sticked or pistol-whipped half to death.
This is the correct way to file a EO compliant.
I guess this turd burglar can start burgling NORK turds for a change. Enjoy!
That made me laugh. The thought of him getting some free time and stealing shit form some locals.
Okay. So KEEP his worthless ass. Since he was about to be drummed out of the service for being a shitstain, that’s one less case of food stamps/Medicaid we have to worry about.
So long fucko, enjoy NK.
Wonder if Pvt 2 Dumbass “We wuz Kangs” King knows that any African Males brought to the Orient were castrated before landfall. Babies born to Black Female Concubines were killed immediately upon birth.
I do wonder, just from an historical perspective, how he is enjoying his new, non racists paradise? He surely won’t be seeing it by the dashboard light.
PHUQUE HEEM!
If he thought South Koreans were “racist,” he won’t like the Norks much better.
North Koreans even discriminate against Korean-Chinese children.
I wonder if this asshat has filed a complaint with his new Equal Opportunity Commissar yet?
They’ll probably put him on the North Korean Olympic Basketball Team, then discover he plays basketball as well as he plays soldier.
A stockade turd. His CoC at 1AD must be feeling a huge sense of relief flushing that steaming pile.
More like the pile flushing itself like the dirtbag who defected in the 70’s who did it to avoid UCMJ action!
Ahhhh the Great People’s Paradise of North Korea….
A bastion of equality, proletariat rule, and complete pontification of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion!
I am sure that PV2 King will quickly rise to the top of the North Korean ranks in a much more fair and equitable environment.
…” did so after being disillusioned with the inequality of American society and racial discrimination in its Army. ”
Really! He’s gonna throw the race card down and use that as his excuse for being a bad troop all around. Fuck him and leave him to the North Koreans.
By the way, if he thinks racism is so bad in the US and our military, just wait until he finds out what North Korean discrimination looks and feels like.
Please, please don’t let Biden offer billions of dollars to rescue his sorry ass.
I’d be bet money the Norks will whip him and make him pick cotton (or some other agricultural product) while calling him racial names at least once, just to be d*cks.
I’d take the USS Pueblo back before this ate-up ass clown.