North Korea to expel US soldier who crossed into the country in July

North Korea said Wednesday that it will expel a US soldier who crossed into the country through the heavily armed border between the Koreas in July.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that authorities have finished their questioning of Pvt Travis King. It said that he confessed to illegally entering the North because he harboured “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” within the US Army and was “disillusioned about the unequal US society”.

Verifying the authenticity of the comments attributed to King is impossible.

The agency did not say when authorities plan to expel King or to where. King, who had served in South Korea, sprinted into North Korea while on a civilian tour of a border village on July 18, becoming the first American confirmed to be detained in the North in nearly five years.