The US soldier who darted into North Korea was accused of punching a man and hurling insults at Koreans and the Korean army while damaging a police car while in custody months earlier
Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images
- The US soldier who crossed into North Korea has been accused of assault and damaging a police car.
- Travis King is believed to be in North Korean custody after he crossed a border into the country.
- He had been held in a South Korean prison over assault charges before the incident.
The US Army soldier who crossed the border into North Korea on Tuesday had previously been accused of punching a man, hurling insults at Koreans and the Korean army, and damaging a police car as he was in the back of the vehicle, according to reports.
Soldier Travis King is now believed to be in North Korean custody after he "willfully and without authorization" crossed from South Korea over the heavily fortified border into the communist country, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.
King was previously held in a South Korean prison for nearly two months over assault charges and was in the process of being brought back to the US before he joined in on a civilian border tour and ran into North Korea, US officials told The Associated Press.
He was accused of repeatedly punching a man in the face at a club on September 25 of last year, Reuters reported, citing court records in Seoul, South Korea. That case was ultimately settled, according to the report.
However, two weeks later, on October 8, police responded to another report of a squabble involving King, Reuters reported, citing a court document. Authorities allege that when they tried to question King, he continued with "aggressive behavior," Reuters reported, citing the court paper.
When police put King in the backseat of their patrol vehicle, he spouted off profanities about Koreans, the Korean army, and the Korean police, Reuters reported, citing the court ruling.
King, who had no previous criminal record, was accused of kicking the door of the police car multiple times during the ordeal, causing about $460 in damages, the report said.
Reuters reported that King pleaded guilty to assault and destruction of public goods. He paid $780 to repair the car and was fined nearly $4,000 on February 8 by the Seoul Western District Court, Reuters reported.
Two US officials told Reuters that the King was due to undergo disciplinary action by the US military before he crossed into North Korea.
It was not clear whether the disciplinary action was connected to his conviction in the October incident.
Meanwhile, King's mother, Claudine Gates, told ABC News that she was shocked to learn that her son had crossed into North Korea.
"I can't see Travis doing anything like that," Gates said.
She told the news outlet that she last spoke to her son a few days earlier, and he told her he would soon return to a base in Fort Bliss, Texas.
Gates said she just wants her son "to come home."
King's uncle told The Daily Beast that King had been "breaking down" over the death of his seven-year-old cousin.