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Army charges Travis King with desertion for crossing the border into North Korea

The private faces eight charges, including possession of child pornography as well as making false statements and disobeying a superior.

Foto de archivo del soldado raso Travis King.

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Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Last Wednesday, the Army charged Private Travis King with several charges including desertion after crossing the border into North Korea on foot last July.

In the military indictment, authorities accuse King of committing up to eight offenses, including desertion, solicitation and possession of child pornography, multiple attacks on fellow soldiers and senior officers, making false statements and disobeying superiors by leaving the base after curfew and drinking alcohol, violating Army regulations, per Reuters. He is also accused of attempting to escape from U.S. military custody in October 2022.

His mother, Claudine Gates, issued a statement that was obtained by ABC News, in which she unconditionally supported her son, while calling on both the military and American citizens to afford him "the presumption of innocence":

"I love my son unconditionally and am extremely concerned about his mental health. As his mother, I ask that my son be afforded the presumption of innocence. The man I raised, the man I dropped off at boot camp, the man who spent the holidays with me before deploying did not drink. A mother knows her son, and I believe something happened to mine while he was deployed. The Army promised to investigate what happened at Camp Humphries, and I await the results.

King's legal team

The indictment comes a month after Travis King, 23, returned to the United States after being held in North Korea for two months. Since then, the Army had avoided making any comment regarding whether the soldier would face legal consequences for his actions. Now, the military authorities reveal the eight charges against King who, in turn, already has a legal team to defend him.

According to the King family spokesperson in a statement, his main lawyer will be Franklin Rosenblatt. The lawyer previously worked on the case of Bowe Bergdahl, an Army sergeant who was held by the Taliban for five years after he left his post in Afghanistan in 2009.

Also on his team will be attorneys Sherilyn A. Bunn and Joshua Grumbaugh, as well as two officials from the United States Navy judge advocate general (JAG). King's mother, Claudine Gates, thanked all of them for their work during her statement: "I am grateful for the extraordinary legal team representing my son, and I look forward to my son having his day in court."

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