North Korea claims US soldier who crossed over ‘disillusioned by society’

Travis King entered the country while on tour of a border village on 18 July, becoming the first American detained in nearly five years

North Korea has claimed that an American soldier who bolted across the heavily armed border from the South wants to seek refuge from inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination" in the US military.

In its first public acknowledgment that Private 2nd class Travis King entered the North while on a tour of a Korean border village on 18 July, the regime said the 23-year-old had voiced disillusionment" with US society.