Family makes visit to soldier who defected to N. Korea
Pvt. Travis King, who is in a Brooke Army Medical Center rehabilitation program for former prisoners following more than two months’ captivity in North Korea, was reunited with family members over the weekend, the Army confirmed.
King, 23, was part of a U.S. armored brigade based in South Korea when he fled to the north in July through the demilitarized zone dividing the two countries. He was seeking to escape Army disciplinary measures.
“Pvt. Travis King is present for duty and is currently assigned on temporary duty orders to Joint Base San Antonio while he completes the reintegration process,” Army spokesman Bryce S. Dubee said. “The reintegration is the (Department of Defense) process of coordinating multiple activities with a recovered person, while protecting their health and welfare, with the goal of returning a physically and emotionally healthy DOD member to duty as expeditiously as possible. Reintegration includes, but is not limited to, medical care, decompression, and debriefing.”
At one time jailed in South Korea after a disturbance, King had been taken to an airport for a flight back to Fort Bliss, where he was originally posted. He never got on the plane. Instead, he boarded a sightseeing bus to the border village of Panmunjom and crossed the DMZ into North Korea.
King is undergoing evaluation and counseling at the BAMC reintegration facility, which dates back to the Vietnam War and is staffed by physicians, psychiatrists, physical therapists and other specialists under the command of U.S. Army South.
King was a 19D cavalry scout when he fled across the Korean DMZ. He enlisted in Racine, Wis., in January 2021.
The Army has said nothing about potential disciplinary actions it might take against King.