Officials have confirmed that Travis King, a US soldier who escaped to North Korea from South Korea in July, is now in the custody of the United States after being sent back by the authorities in Pyongyang.
Private King was taken into the custody of the United States in China and then taken by plane to a military base in the United States.
The person, who was 23 years old and had a job in gathering information, entered North Korea in July without permission.
North Korean media stated that he ran away because he was treated badly and experienced racism in the US military.
A high-ranking official from the government said on Wednesday that after a lot of effort in discussing and negotiating with others, Pvt King has been brought back to the United States and has talked to his family.
The official said that Pvt King is really happy to be going back home and he is really excited to see his family again.
We will help him with a process to restart his life, taking care of his health and emotions, so that he can be in a good state to be with his family again.
The person in charge said that the US did not give up or make any compromises to free him.
After US officials met Pvt King in Dandong, a city on the Chinese border, he was flown to a US airbase in South Korea by a state department aircraft.
Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the state department, said that it was anticipated for him to come back to the United States on Wednesday afternoon.
Travis King’s desertion and deportation: What we know Here’s what we know about Travis King’s decision to leave his post and be sent back to his home country.
On Wednesday, North Korea’s news agency announced that the country had chosen to remove Pvt King but did not provide any more information.
The government of North Korea has decided to send US soldier Travis King back home because he entered the country without permission. This is being done in accordance with the laws of North Korea.
Pvt King joined the army in January 2021 and recently served in South Korea as a part of a unit change.
Before going to North Korea, he was kept in custody for two months in South Korea for attacking two people and damaging a police car. He got out of jail on July 10th.
He was supposed to go back to the US to face consequences for his actions, but he escaped the airport and joined a guided tour of a village called Panmunjom on the heavily guarded DMZ between the US and another country. Pvt King entered North Korea during the trip.
The senior official said they will first make sure he gets a medical check-up before deciding on any possible punishment or administrative actions.
A top official from the US government said that they found out earlier this month that North Korea planned to free Pvt King.
Swedish officials went to North Korea and took Pvt King to the border with China, where he met US ambassador Nicholas Burns. China helped in a positive way, but they did not get involved in settling the issue.
“The pieces needed to come together fast,” said the American official.
Because the US and North Korea do not have official diplomatic relations, Sweden’s embassy in Pyongyang has usually acted as a mediator for the US.
A spokesperson from the Swedish embassy said that Sweden was helping the US in North Korea to protect their interests.
Jonathan Franks, who speaks for Pvt King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said in a statement that she will always be thankful to the US Army and its partners for doing a great job.
The message said that Pvt King’s family does not plan to give any interviews “in the near future”.
His family has told the media in America that he was treated unfairly because of discrimination when he was in the military.
They said that his mental health declined while he was in the custody of South Korea.
Last month, Ms Gates told the Associated Press news agency that her son had many reasons to return home.
“He will never want to only stay in Korea when he has family in America,” she said.
According to Frank Aum, a North Korea specialist at the US Institute of Peace in Washington DC, Pvt King’s 71-day imprisonment is quite common for American citizens held in North Korea who are not believed to have committed a serious crime.
Some experts thought North Korea might have used the American soldier as a way to negotiate with the United States.
In the past, North Korea has demanded that a high-ranking American representative come to their country to talk about releasing an American person they detained. However, we do not know if that happened this time.
MrAum, who used to be an important advisor on North Korea for the US government, said that North Korea thinks there might be a way to start talks again.
But it seemed like North Korea didn’t want to do it this time. This might mean that North Korea doesn’t want to talk or work with the US right now.
MrAum also said that North Korean officials surely want to avoid making it seem like they are a big violator of human rights and detaining people for no reason.
A person from the State Department named Matthew Miller said that the United States is ready to communicate with North Korea, but North Korea’s government has said no many times.
Mick Mulroy, who used to work for the government and CIA, said it’s a positive that Pvt King is being brought back to the United States, even though he made some errors.
“MrMulroy said it was really important for us to do everything we could to bring the US soldier back home. ”
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