U.S. soldier Travis King arrives in Texas after North Korea expulsion
NBCOct 01, 2023
US Soldier Who Defected to NKorea Will Plead Guilty to Desertion
Above: North Korean soldiers standing in front of the United Nations conference rooms on the demarcation line in the Demilitarized Zone, North Hwanghae Province, Panmunjom, North Korea on April 27, 2010. Image copyright: Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Contributor/Corbis News via Getty Images
The Facts
Travis King, the US Army private who fled across the South Korean border into North Korea last year, is expected to plead guilty to five charges, including desertion and assaulting an officer, according to the soldier's attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt.
As part of the plea deal, nine other charges will be dropped, including possession of child pornography, which was connected to allegations that he tried to solicit such material over the social media app Snapchat.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
King was facing a long list of serious charges that could have resulted in a far more severe punishment. However, due to the stress he was under at the time of his crimes, most likely due to the death of of his cousin, King deserves this plea agreement given the mental stress. Both the Army and the King family are equally grateful to bring this ordeal to a close.
Establishment-critical narrative
We shouldn't allow the military to control the narrative of this quite suspect story. Whatever King was running from, whether it be racism or some sort of intelligence operation, the types of accusations against him should set alarm bells off. The government has been known to plant compromising material on people's devices when it wants to silence them, so the full context of this story should be fully investigated.
