In a wild end to an even wilder saga, a U.S. soldier who fled to North Korea intends to plead guilty to desertion and four other military offenses, Associated Press reports. It forms part of a deal that’ll apparently see nine other charges against Travis King thrown out, including possession of child pornography. Having been initially detained on assault charges in South Korea, where he was stationed, King made headlines last July after bolting from his escort during a civilian tour of the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and crossing the border into the north. The incident marked the first defection to North Korea by a U.S. national since the 1960s. Amid reports King had suffered some sort of nervous breakdown as well as racial discrimination before fleeing, the private was eventually expelled last September and handed over to U.S. authorities in China. His lawyers have reportedly said “he wants to take responsibility for the things that he did,” and that “Travis is grateful to his friends and family [as well as] all outside his circle who did not prejudge his case based on the initial allegations.”
Read it at Associated Press
