Family members of the U.S. Army private who sprinted across the border into North Korea said Wednesday that he may have felt overwhelmed as he faced legal troubles and his possible looming discharge from the military.
Even with legal troubles hanging over him, King's relatives said they are at a loss to explain why he acted as he did.“I don’t understand why he would do that, because it seemed like he was on his way back here to the United States,” Myron Gates said. “He was on his way home."
King was facing discharge from the Army because he was convicted of a crime in a foreign country, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. According to the U.S. official, King was escorted to the airport on Monday by two U.S. service members. He was supposed to board an American Airlines flight to Texas that was scheduled to leave at 5:40 p.m. Upon arrival, he was to be met by military personnel who would escort him to Fort Bliss.
“I assumed initially he had a mate filming him in some kind of really stupid prank or stunt, like a TikTok, the most stupid thing you could do,” Leslie said. “But then I heard one of the soldiers shout, ‘Get that guy.’”U.S. officials were saying little about what may have motivated King.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration was trying to figure out where King was being held, his condition and his reason for crossing into North Korea.
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