American soldier Travis King was in U.S. custody and on his way home Thursday, after North Korea expelled him from the country via China the previous day, according to the State Department.

Washington had yet to confirm the soldier’s arrival in the U.S. as of 6 p.m. KST, but NBC News reported that he landed in San Antonio, Texas, in the early hours of Thursday (U.S. time).

North Korean state media announcedWednesday evening that it would “expel” the 23-year-old U.S. Army private for “illegally entering” the country, over two months after he crossed the inter-Korean border during a tour