North Korea says it will expel American soldier Travis King, who illegally crossed into the country in July, dashing through the Koreas’ heavily militarized border.

The North’s official news agency, KCNA, said the country has wrapped up its final investigation into King but did not specify how, when or where King would be expelled.  

KCNA said King had harbored ill feelings over inhumane treatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. army.

North Korea had said in its interim findings that King wanted refuge in North Korea or elsewhere because of that same reason.

King was facing pending administrative separation from the Army when he returned to his base in Fort Bliss, Texas after spending time in a South Korean jail on assault charges.

The cavalry scout was due to board a flight back to the U.S. on July 17, but made it onto a civilian tour of the border complex one day later.

King was taken by North Korean soldiers on duty at the Joint Security Area, KCNA reported, when the plain-clothed soldier “deliberately intruded into the area of the DPRK side between the room for the DPRK-U.S. military contacts and the restroom of security officers along the Military Demarcation Line.”

DPRK is an acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The Military Demarcation Line is the official border separating the two Koreas, put in place by an armistice that paused the 1950-1953 Korean War, which remains without a formal end and peace treaty.

Eunice Kim contributed to this report.  Some information came from Reuters.
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