By Phil Stewart, Trevor Hunnicutt and Hyonhee Shin
WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - Private&nbsp;Travis&nbsp;King, the U.S.&nbsp;soldier&nbsp;who ran into&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;in July, is in U.S. custody and heading&nbsp;home&nbsp;after&nbsp;being expelled by&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;into China, the United States said on Wednesday.
While details about the diplomacy that led to&nbsp;King's transfer remained scarce, the development was a rare example of cooperation between the United States,&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and China. The State Department said&nbsp;King&nbsp;was expected to return to the United States later on Wednesday.
King, 23, made a sudden dash into&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;from the South on July 18 while on a civilian tour of their heavily fortified border and was immediately taken into&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korean custody.
Washington declined to declare&nbsp;him&nbsp;a prisoner of war despite heated debate within the government. For its part,&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;appears to have treated his case as one of illegal immigration.
North&nbsp;Korea's KCNA state news agency said&nbsp;King&nbsp;told Pyongyang he entered&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;illegally because he was disillusioned about unequal U.S. society."
North&nbsp;Korea's decision to expel&nbsp;King, published by KCNA, detailed the final results of an investigation into his border crossing. Last month, it said that he wanted refuge in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;or elsewhere because of maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army.
KING&nbsp;IN 'GOOD HEALTH'
The Swedish government, which represents U.S. interests in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;because Washington has no diplomatic presence in the country, retrieved&nbsp;King&nbsp;in&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and brought&nbsp;him&nbsp;to China.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that&nbsp;King&nbsp;was met by the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, in Dandong, China, a river city bordering&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea. Miller said&nbsp;King&nbsp;flew from there to Shenyang, China, then to Osan Air Force Base in South&nbsp;Korea.
Expressing gratitude to Sweden and China, U.S. officials, citing U.S. diplomatic representatives who saw&nbsp;King, told reporters he appeared in good health and was &ldquo;very happy&rdquo; to be on his way&nbsp;home. He was able to speak with his family&nbsp;after&nbsp;his release from&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea.
His release followed months of intense diplomacy, the U.S. officials said, adding that no concessions were made to the&nbsp;North&nbsp;in exchange for&nbsp;King.
"This incident, to our minds, demonstrates that keeping lines of communication open even when ties are strained is a really important thing to do and can deliver results," one senior administration official said.
"We, again, stand by ready for any further diplomacy (with&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea) that might be possible."
Miller said he did not view&nbsp;King's return as a sign of a wider breakthrough with&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and that China had not served as a mediator in the matter, but rather as a transit point for the&nbsp;soldier.
China's embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
South&nbsp;Korea's foreign ministry welcomed&nbsp;King's release from&nbsp;North&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;and said it had been briefed by Washington on developments, without elaborating.
DISCIPLINE FOR&nbsp;KING&nbsp;POSSIBLE
Jonathan Franks, spokesperson for&nbsp;King's mother, Claudine Gates, said: "Ms. Gates will be forever grateful to the United States Army and all its interagency partners for a job well done."
King's uncle, Myron Gates, told ABC News in August that his nephew, who is Black, experienced racism during his military deployment, and that&nbsp;after&nbsp;he spent time in a South&nbsp;Korean jail, he did not sound like&nbsp;himself.
King, who joined the U.S. army in January 2021, faced two allegations of assault in South&nbsp;Korea. He pleaded guilty to one instance of assault and destroying public property for damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against&nbsp;Koreans, according to court documents. He had been due to face more disciplinary measures when he arrived back in the United States.
King&nbsp;had finished serving military detention and was at the airport awaiting U.S. military transport to his&nbsp;home&nbsp;unit in the United States. Instead, he left the airport and joined a tour of the border area, where he ran across despite attempts by South&nbsp;Korean and U.S. guards to stop&nbsp;him.
One U.S. official said the military would consider administrative actions against&nbsp;King&nbsp;after&nbsp;he was evaluated, taken through a reintegration process and reunited with his family in the United States. The official declined to answer directly whether&nbsp;King&nbsp;would face a court martial.
A different U.S. official said&nbsp;King&nbsp;was heading to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, which is located at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. It is the same base that treated basketball star Brittney Griner in December last year&nbsp;after&nbsp;a prisoner swap with Russia ended her 10 months in Russian detention.
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(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi in Seoul and Phil Stewart, Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt, Doina Chiacu, Idrees Ali, Daphne Psaledakis Michael Martina, Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom in Washington, Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, and Johan Ahlander in Stockholm; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Sharon Singleton, Bill Berkrot, Don Durfee, Daniel Wallis, William Maclean and Cynthia Osterman)

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