‘Abuse and racism’ drove Travis King to seek asylum in North Korea: State media | NK News
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November 05, 2024
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‘Abuse and racism’ drove Travis King to seek asylum in North Korea: State media

First statement from Pyongyang on matter comes around one month after King crossed inter-Korean border on JSA tour
Colin Zwirko | Ifang Bremer | Shreyas Reddy August 16, 2023
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‘Abuse and racism’ drove Travis King to seek asylum in North Korea: State media
Travis King (left) and the North Korean side of the Joint Security Area in Sept. 2015 | Image: Koreancupid (left) and NK News (right)

North Korea has confirmed the status of U.S. soldier Travis King for the first time, releasing a statement in state media saying he “admits to illegally” crossing the inter-Korean border around one month ago and that he seeks to stay in the DPRK.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday, King “confessed to wanting to cross into the DPRK” due to “inhumane abuse and racism in the U.S. military.”

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About the Authors

Colin Zwirko

Colin Zwirko

Colin Zwirko is a Senior Analytic Correspondent for NK News based in Seoul. He joined the company in 2018 after receiving a master's degree in international security and foreign policy from South Korea's Yonsei University. Follow him on Twitter.

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Ifang Bremer

Ifang Bremer

Ifang Bremer is a Seoul Correspondent at NK News. He has worked on investigations for The Guardian and The Observer and previously wrote features on Korea for Dutch newspaper NRC.

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Shreyas Reddy

Shreyas Reddy

Shreyas Reddy is a correspondent at NK News, based in Seoul. He previously worked as a researcher at BBC Monitoring, where his work focused on news and key people and organizations from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Follow him on Twitter.

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