WASHINGTON — A U.S. Army personal who mysteriously sprinted throughout the border into North Korea final month has “so many reasons to come home,” his mom stated Wednesday as she forged doubt on a latest assertion that urged her son, Travis King, is likely to be looking for refuge there or in a 3rd nation.
Claudine Gates spoke to The Associated Press one week after North Korea launched the assertion by its state media wherein it confirmed for the primary time that it had detained the soldier and attributed feedback to him criticizing the United States.
“I just can’t see him ever wanting to just stay in Korea when he has family in America. He has so many reasons to come home,” Gates, from Racine, Wisconsin, stated.
King, 23, had served in South Korea and sprinted into North Korea whereas on a civilian tour of a border village on July 18. U.S. officers have stated they’re working to get him dwelling.
The official Korean Central News Agency stated King, who’s Black, had stated he determined to enter North Korea as a result of he “harbored ill feelings against inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.” The report additionally stated that King had stated he “was disillusioned at the unequal American society” and had expressed his willingness to hunt refuge in North Korea or a 3rd nation.
U.S. officers final week stated they have been unable to confirm the feedback attributed to him, whereas White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters to “consider the source.” KCNA is the official voice of chief Kim Jong Un’s authorities and its content material displays North Korea’s official line that the United States is an evil adversary.
Gates, within the interview with AP, stated she had by no means heard her son specific the feelings attributed to him.
“My son, he was proud to be American. He’s not even a racist type of person. That’s why I can’t see him saying that,” she stated. But she added that “I was kind of told that he said a little something like that to his uncles” and that “their approach with him was a little different than me. I’m mom.”
Gates stated she stays perplexed by her son’s actions. Birthdays are main milestones within the household, she stated, and he or she couldn’t think about her son willfully lacking a possibility to talk together with her on July 26, her birthday.
She famous that within the months earlier than his sprint throughout the border to North Korea, he had change into considerably much less communicative than in his early days within the Army. Family members have beforehand stated that he might have felt overwhelmed as he confronted authorized troubles and his potential looming discharge from the navy.
King was speculated to be returned to the U.S. to face navy self-discipline after serving practically two months in a South Korea jail on assault costs. But as a substitute of boarding a flight for Texas, as deliberate, King slipped away and quietly joined a civilian tour group headed for the Demilitarized Zone, which divides South and North Korea.
No matter the problem, Gates stated, speaking on to her son, “I’m not mad at you, Travis. I just want you to come home. He has a whole life ahead of him. He’s still a young man. I just want my baby home.”
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