Private Travis King is accused by the US Army of deserting after he sped into North Korea

According to papers seen by Reuters, the U.S. Army has accused Private Travis King with offenses ranging from desertion for entering North Korea in July to violence against other troops and solicitation of child pornography.

Eight different counts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice are included in the Army’s case against King, which has not previously been disclosed. This will put the 23-year-old soldier up for a protracted court struggle following his release from North Korean prison in September.

An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by the Army. King’s mother, Claudine Gates, reaffirmed her unwavering love and requested that her son “be afforded the presumption of innocence” in a statement sent by a family spokeswoman.

“The man I raised, the man I dropped off at boot camp, the man who spent the holidays with me before deploying did not drink,” Gates said. “A mother knows her kid, and I think that my son had some kind of incident when he was serving. I’m awaiting the findings of the Army’s investigation into what transpired at Camp Humphreys.

The U.S. Army has been delaying inquiries about whether King would face punishment for weeks, claiming that its first priority was to make sure the soldier got the right treatment after being imprisoned by North Korea for two months.

Following weeks of discussions behind the scenes, North Korea released King in September. The Swedish government then picked King up in North Korea and transported him over the border into China where he was given to the American ambassador. On September 28, King was taken to a Texas military hospital for tests of his physical and mental condition.

King’s treatment while in North Korean prison is still mostly unknown, and the soldier has not made known why he went to one of the world’s most secretive countries on July 19. However, the Army’s charge sheet alleges that he had engaged in extensive wrongdoing before to that occurrence, including an effort to elude American military custody on October 20, 2022.

In July 2023, King was charged with asking a Snapchat user to “knowingly and willingly produce child pornography.” He was also charged with having child porn in his hands. Along with consuming alcohol in violation of Army rules and leaving his post after curfew, he was also accused of insubordination.

Franklin Rosenblatt, who served as the primary military defense attorney throughout Bowe Bergdahl’s court martial procedures, has been engaged by King’s family to represent him, according to a statement from the family’s spokesman Jonathan Franks. After leaving his station in Afghanistan in 2009, Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban and held captive for five years.

King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said in a statement, “I am grateful for the extraordinary legal team representing my son, and I look forward to my son having his day in court.” King, who enlisted in the Army in January 2021, was the subject of two assault claims in South Korea.

According to court records, he admitted to assault and damage public property after damaging a police vehicle during an expletive-filled rant against Koreans. King chose to spend more than a month in South Korean custody rather than pay a punishment.

After his release from South Korean custody, King was already scheduled to receive discipline in the US. He snuck out of the international airport in Seoul while on route home and headed to a tour for tourists of the North and South Korean borders.

Then King dashed into North Korea over the border. He was promptly taken into captivity by North Korea. Desertion was King’s third accusation. King allegedly deserted from the Army in South Korea with the purpose of remaining gone forever, and he did so “until on or about September 27, 2023.”