By Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea concluded that Travis King wants refuge there or in another country because of "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army", state media said on Wednesday, Pyongyang's first public acknowledgement of King crossing from South Korea on July 17.
A private in the U.S. Army, King dashed into the North while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas.
U.S. officials have said they believe King crossed the border intentionally, and have declined so far to classify him as a prisoner of war.
North Korean investigators have also concluded that King crossed deliberately and illegally, with the intent to stay in the North or in a third country, state news agency KCNA said.
"During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army," KCNA reported, using the initials of North Korea's official name. "He also expressed his willingness to seek refugee in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society."
KCNA said King was "kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People's Army" after his crossing and the investigation is still active.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
U.S. officials have so far said that the North had not provided substantive responses to their requests for information on King.
The Pentagon said it could not verify King's comments as reported by KCNA, and remains focused on his safe return. It did not address whether it had heard more details from North Korea.
A spokesman for the United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees the border village where King crossed, said he did not have anything to add to previous statements.
How to classify the 23-year-old has been an open question for the U.S. military.
As an active-duty soldier he might appear to qualify as a POW, given that the United States and North Korea technically remain at war. The 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. The Korean Peninsula technically remains at war with the UNC providing oversight for the armistice.
Factors including King's decision to cross into North Korea of his own free will, in civilian attire, appear to have disqualified him from POW status, U.S. officials have said.
King, who joined the U.S. Army in January 2021, is a Cavalry Scout with the Korean Rotational Force, which is part of the U.S. security commitment to South Korea.
But his posting was dogged by legal troubles.
He faced two allegations of assault in South Korea, and eventually pleaded guilty to one instance of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents. He was due to face more disciplinary measures when he arrived back in the United States.
King had finished serving military detention and had been transported by the U.S. military to the airport to return to his home unit in the United States. Instead, he left the airport, joined a tour of the border area, where he ran across despite attempts by South Korean and U.S. guards to stop him.
(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Mark Porter, Sonali Paul and Grant McCool)
