A US soldier, who crossed the border from South to North Korea earlier this year, is in American custody after being expelled by the North to China, US officials have said.
Details of Private Travis King's transfer are scarce, but the positive resolution of the case is noteworthy given how rare diplomatic cooperation is between the United States, North Korea and China.
The 23-year-old ran into the North on 18 July while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area on the heavily fortified border between the two countries and was immediately taken into custody.
His case triggered heated discussions within the US government, but Washington declined to declare him a prisoner of war.
Instead, North Korea appears to have treated his case like one of illegal immigration.
Its KCNA state news agency said Private King had been expelled after admitting to entering the country illegally as he was "disillusioned about unequal US society".
North Korea's decision, published by KCNA, detailed the final results of an investigation into Private King's border crossing.
Last month, it reported interim findings that he wanted refuge in the reclusive state or elsewhere because of maltreatment and discrimination in the US army.
"King confessed that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK as he harboured ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US army and was disillusioned about the unequal US society," KCNA said.
DPRK refers to North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Authorities decided to expel him, KCNA said, but did not specify how, when or to where he would be sent.
US officials confirmed that he was in American custody, but did not offer further details ahead of an official announcement.
There have been several attempts by American soldiers stationed in South Korea to desert or defect to North Korea, but Private King's expulsion decision came relatively quickly.
Others have spent years before being released from the country.
Jonathan Franks, spokesperson for Private 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."
His uncle, Myron Gates, told ABC News in August that his nephew, who is black, was experiencing racism during his military deployment, and that after he spent time in a South Korean jail, he did not sound like himself.
Private King, who joined the US army in January 2021, faced two allegations of assault in South Korea.
He pleaded guilty to one charge and to destroying public property by damaging a police car during a profanity-laced tirade against Koreans, according to court documents.
He was due to face more disciplinary measures when he arrived back in the United States.
Private King had finished serving military detention and had been transported by the US military to an airport to return to his home unit in the US.
Instead, he left the airport and joined a tour of the border area, where he ran across the frontier despite attempts by South Korean and US guards to stop him.
Professor of North Korean studies at South Korea's Kyungnam University, Lim Eul-chul, said the North may have felt that any diplomatic and propaganda value in keeping the solider was outweighed by the likely US pressure it would face.
"It seems likely that North Korea saw little value in him as a countermeasure to a US human rights campaign against themselves by highlighting racial issues in America," he said.
