SEOUL, Sept 27 (Reuters) - North Korea has decided to expel American soldier Travis King who it said has admitted to illegal intrusion into the country and was “disillusioned about unequal U.S. society,” state media KCNA said on Wednesday.
Last month it reported interim findings that he wanted refuge in North Korea or elsewhere because of maltreatment and racial discrimination within the army.
“King confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army and was disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society,” KCNA said.
King, an army private, made a sudden dash into North Korea from the South on July 18 while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area on the heavily fortified border between the neighbours.
In August, King’s uncle, Myron Gates, told ABC News that his nephew, who is Black, was experiencing racism during his military deployment, and that after he spent time in a South Korean jail, he did not sound like himself.
He 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.
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