Mother of soldier Travis King, 23, who defected to North Korea, refutes child porn allegations against him and says the military forced him to sign a non-disclosure agreement to never reveal what happened across the border

Private Travis King’s mother has claimed he is innocent and that the military made him sign an agreement never to reveal why he crossed over to North Korea or anything about his time there.

King, 23, is being held in El Paso, Texas, after North Korea extradited him to the US last month following his desertion in July and charged with desertion, assault on fellow soldiers and solicitation of child pornography.

His mother Claudine Gates shared details of her reunion with King two weeks ago, saying he was physically fine but looked “very sleepy and tired” — and that his time in North Korea and why he went there remains a mystery.

“He said he couldn’t tell us what happened (in North Korea). He told me the military told him he couldn’t tell anyone… that he then signed an agreement,” the mother told ABC News.

Gates said she and her family plan to fight the charges against the military, “and fight the charges hard, to the end.”

She and her husband Dan Jovanovic insisted that the charges against Travis, who spent more than 70 days in the totalitarian country, are inconsistent with the “peaceful person” they knew before he was deployed to South Korea.

Travis is accused of soliciting a lewd photo from a Snapchat user. Gates and Jovanovic claimed that King lost his phone in South Korea and that someone could have accessed his social media account.

“If you have all these devices on hand or lying around and stuff, God only knows how that manifested itself in that,” the stepfather said.

“The actions the military says they are taking are not Travis’s actions. He’s not like that. He’s a good boy,” Gates said, adding that she suffered a nervous breakdown while her son was being held in the Hermit Kingdom.

King crossed the demilitarized zone into North Korea on the day he was scheduled to return from his mission, where he spent more than 40 days in detention, accused of attacking fellow officers.

The mother and stepfather said they do not believe the allegations against King, who is accused of being involved in drunken brawls and claims the soldier did not even drink at home.

‘Something must have happened to set him on fire. He never shouted or even got angry. He didn’t even step on an ant,” King’s stepfather said.

Gates said, “I still feel like something happened to me and he’s the only one who can say what happened.”

She and Jovanovic also claimed that the military has not provided answers.

Gates has previously said the allegations against her son do not match what she knows.

“The man I raised, the man I dropped off at boot camp, the man who spent the holidays with me before I was deployed, didn’t drink,” she told CBS News. “A mother knows her son, and I believe something happened to mine while he was deployed.”

Desertion is a serious charge that can result in a prison sentence of three years.

King is also accused of kicking and punching other officers last year, unlawful possession of alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaging in sexual activity, according to the AP.

That accusation dates back to July 10, the same day he was released from a South Korean prison where he had spent almost two months for assault.

A week later, King ran from South Korea across the heavily fortified border, becoming the first American detained in North Korea in nearly five years.

He was scheduled to be sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he could have faced possible additional disciplinary action and discharge.

Officials said King was taken to the airport and escorted through customs. But instead of boarding the plane, he took off and later took part in a civilian tour of the Korean border village of Panmunjom.

He ran across the border in the afternoon, which is lined with guards and often packed with tourists.

After about two months, Pyongyang abruptly announced it would deport him. He was flown to an Air Force base in Texas on September 28.

His release from North Korea was aided by Swedish officials who took King to the Chinese border, where he was met by U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, Sweden’s ambassador to China and at least one U.S. Defense Department official. He was then flown to a US military base in South Korea before heading to the US

North Korea had previously claimed that King fled to the North because of “inhumane mistreatment and racial discrimination within the US military.”

“During the investigation, Travis King admitted that he decided to come to the DPRK (the initials of the North’s official name) because he harbored bad feelings about inhumane mistreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. military,” KCNA reported.

“He also expressed his willingness to seek refugees in the DPRK or a third country, saying he was disillusioned with the unequal American society.”

Once back in the U.S., King was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, outside San Antonio.

He went through what the military describes as a “reintegration process” that included medical examinations, psychological assessments and debriefings. And he also got to meet family.

At the time, officials said they did not know exactly why North Korea decided to let King go, but they suspected that Pyongyang determined that as a low-ranking soldier he had no real value in terms of influence or information.

King, who joined the military in January 2021, faced two assault charges in South Korea. According to court documents, he pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans.

Rather than pay a fine, King opted for more than a month of South Korean detention.

By declaring King a deserter, the military would have to conclude that King left and intended to stay away permanently. In times of war, desertion can be punishable by death.

Service members may be absent for several days but may return voluntarily.

The punishment can include confinement in prison, forfeiture of wages, or dishonorable discharge and is largely based on how long they were away and whether they were apprehended or returned on their own.

The charging document does not provide significant details about the allegations, although it accuses King of knowingly possessing a video of a child engaging in sexual conduct on July 10 and says he is a user of Snapchat, a social media platform asked to make images of sexual activities of minors.

King’s family has hired a legal team to defend him, including Franklin Rosenblatt, who served as lead military counsel during the court-martial against Bowe Bergdahl, family spokesman Jonathan Franks said in a statement.

Bergdahl was an Army sergeant who was held by the Taliban for five years after leaving his post in Afghanistan in 2009.