US soldier Travis King has been charged with desertion for his illegal entry into North Korea from the Demilitarized Zone, US media reported on Thursday.
The American army brought eight charges against this soldier then stationed in South Korea, including assault against other soldiers and possession of child pornography, according to a document published by several American media. He is also charged with making false statements and illegal possession of alcohol.
Desertion is punishable by up to three years in prison.
After a drunken bar fight that left him detained in a South Korean prison, Private King was scheduled to return to the United States in July.
But he managed to leave the Seoul area airport, joined a sightseeing tour of the demilitarized zone and crossed the massively fortified border into North Korea where he was arrested by communist authorities.
Pyongyang said the soldier had defected to escape “mistreatment and racial discrimination within the US military”.
But after completing its investigation, North Korea “decided to expel” King in September for illegally entering its territory.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Sabrina Singh, said King, who returned to the United States at the end of September, will have to undergo a “reintegration program” including medical examinations and mental health evaluations.
The two Koreas are still technically at war since the end of the conflict on the peninsula in 1953, which ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty, and their common border is particularly fortified.
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