Months before he fled into North Korea, US soldier Travis King faced two assault allegations and was fined by a South Korean court for damaging a police car, according to a court ruling and a lawyer who represented him.
The US military was scrambling to establish the fate of King, who made an unauthorized crossing of the inter-Korean border into North Korea on Tuesday, throwing Washington into a new crisis in its dealing with the nuclear-armed state.
King’s motivations for his high-stakes gambit remain unclear.