'No Concessions Were Made': North Korea 'Expels' U.S. Soldier Travis King for 'Illegal Intrusion' Into DPRK

Travis King, the young American soldier who crossed the border on foot from South Korea into North Korea in July, was back in U.S. custody Wednesday, U.S. officials confirmed. North Korea announced earlier Wednesday that it would expel King, with the totalitarian state's tightly-controlled media saying he had confessed to entering the country illegally.

King was first sent across North Korea's border into China, where he was transferred to U.S. custody. U.S. officials said there were no concessions made by Washington to secure King's release.

[...] King appeared to be in "good health and good spirits as he makes his way home," a U.S. official said, adding that he was also "very happy" to be coming back.

North Korea's KCNA released a statement earlier in the day saying: "The relevant agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea] decided to expel Travis King, an American soldier who illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK, in accordance with the laws of the Republic."

[...] North Korea previously claimed that King had told investigators he crossed the border because he, "harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army."

[...] King is likely to have proven "unsuitable for propaganda purposes" to North Korea, Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean studies in Seoul told CBS News, because the soldier entered North Korea as a fugitive, making it "difficult" for the country's authorities to deal with him.

Yang also told CBS News the decision to deport the soldier was likely made in part due to a "lukewarm" response to the incident by Washington.

Before entering North Korea, [King] had served two months in detention in South Korea on charges that he assaulted two people and kicked a police car. He was released from custody on 10 July.

He had been due to return to the US for disciplinary proceedings, but managed to leave the airport and join a guided tour of the border village of Panmunjom on the heavily guarded Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two countries. Pvt King crossed into North Korea while on the tour.