WASHINGTON — A lawyer for a Soldier who fled to North Korea and later became accused of abandonment and possession of sexual images of a child said Wednesday that he was in negotiations with military prosecutors to resolve the case against his client.
Army Private Travis King was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing Tuesday at Fort Bliss, Texas. But the hearing was canceled to allow the two sides to negotiate a resolution, King’s attorney, Franklin D. Rosenblatt, told The Associated Press.
He declined to elaborate on the details of the discussions or what a potential deal might entail, but said a request had been made to postpone the hearing by two weeks and that negotiations could result in a preliminary hearing not being necessary.
King in July 2023 ran across the heavily fortified border from South Korea and was the first American to be detained in North Korea in nearly five years.
Officials said King was taken to the airport and escorted through customs. But instead of boarding the plane, he left and later joined a civilian tour of the Korean border village PanmunjomHe ran across the border in the afternoon, where there are guards and often many tourists.
After about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced it was expelling him. He was flown to an air base in Texas on September 28.
In October, he was charged with desertion and accused of kicking and punching other officers last year, illegally possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity.
His mother, Claudine Gates, said in a statement at the time that she loved her son unconditionally and was deeply concerned about his mental health.
“The man I raised, the man I dropped off at base camp, the man who spent the holidays with me before I deployed, he didn’t drink and he would never have had anything to do with child pornography,” she said. “A mother knows her son, and I believe something happened to mine when he deployed.”