deserter got off light

[Bob Dedmon]

Soldier who fled into N. Korea pleads guilty to desertion
King
By Emmett Lindner The New York Times
An. Army soldier who had been detained in North Korea after he fled there in 2023 pleaded guilty to desertion, disobeying an order and assault at a hearing Friday, according to the Army.
Pvt. Travis King, 24, pleaded guilty before a military judge in Fort Bliss, Texas, and was sentenced to 12 months of confinement. The time he has spent in custody will count toward his sentence, the Army said in a statement.
“With time already served and credit for good behavior, Travis is now free and will return home,” Franklin D. Rosenblatt, King’s attorney, said in a statement posted to social media Friday.
In addition to his confinement sentence, King was dishonorably discharged.
“The outcome of today’s court-martial is a fair and just result that reflects the seriousness of the offenses committed by Pvt. King,” Maj. Allyson Montgomery, an Army prosecutor, said in the Army’s statement.
King had been assigned to a combat team in South Korea and spent time in a South Korean detention center in 2023 for assault charges. After his release that July, he was scheduled to board a plane to the U.S., where he was expected to face additional disciplinary action.
Instead, King boarded a bus to a town near the Demilitarized Zone, which separates North and South Korea, and joined a tour group. He broke away from the group and crossed into the North, where he was quickly detained. He was the first American soldier to cross the DMZ into the North since 1982.
North Korean authorities held King for more than two months, and officials found him guilty of “illegally intruding” into their territory, according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.
IKing was released last September into U.S. custody after weeks of negotiations mediated by the Swedish government.
He originally faced 14 charges, but nine of those were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
On Friday, he pleaded guilty to one count of desertion, three counts of disobeying a superior commissioned officer and one count of assault on a noncommissioned officer.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

I get impression the Norks eventually realised he was a few ring-pulls short of a six-pack, threw him back

An object of ridicule and some pity, he's an object lesson for any-one else tempted to take that route...