You may recall that story from last year of Travis King, the US soldier who deserted his unit while stationed in South Korea and fled across the border to North Korea. There, he was immediately taken into custody by the North Koreans and detained for questioning. He was later released and allowed to return across the border where he was arrested by the US military and charged with a list of various crimes. Now his story seems to have reached an end that is probably just as unconventional as the rest of his journey. He went to court yesterday and was found guilty on five different charges, but he won't be spending any additional time behind bars. King was sentenced to time served and will be released to return home. So was this a fair amount of punishment fitting his crimes? (NBC News)

Travis King, the U.S. soldier who ran across the Demilitarized Zone and into North Korea last year, was sentenced Friday to a prison term that amounts to the time he has already served.

King pleaded guilty to five charges: One count of desertion, one count of assault on a non-commissioned officer, and three counts of disobeying a lawful order.

He was sentenced by a military judge to 12 months in prison for desertion and one month on each of the four other counts. King has served 338 days already.

Defense attorneys noted that King spent 63 days in North Korea in addition to his time served in the U.S.

Let's start with the big ticket item on the list and work our way down from there. Travis King was found guilty of desertion. That's one of the more serious charges available in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, but the way it is handled is highly situational. As we've noted here previously, King is very fortunate that we're not technically at war with North Korea right now (though we're not far from it most days) because desertion during a time of war carries the death penalty. A sentence of twelve months is not unheard of, but you would typically expect to see that if it was a case of a drunken soldier wandering off of his base and not coming back. King purposefully planned an escape and blended in with a tour group to intentionally turn himself over to one of America's most dangerous and unstable adversaries.

He was no doubt questioned at length while being held in North Korea and he most likely answered all of the questions put to him. It's debatable how much sensitive information would have been revealed to a private second-class on his first tour of duty, but he still could have confirmed information about American troop movements and numbers. Damage was almost certainly done, even if it was minor in nature. Twelve months sounds like an awfully light sentence given all of those factors.

He was also found guilty of committing assault on a superior non-commissioned officer. That is also a serious charge. The three counts of disobeying a lawful order are more minor in nature and wouldn't bring a harsh penalty typically, but when you add those in with the first two offenses, this was obviously not a case of momentary poor judgment.

So why would North Korea cut such a deal to begin with and why wasn't the book thrown at King at least a bit more heavily? North Korea's diminutive dictator is a dangerously unstable individual who butters his bread by ginning up fear of the United States among his people as a threat to the survival of their nation. But he's also not a fool and his family has retained power for three generations by playing savvy games when it comes to international relations. Things are tense enough between North Korea and the United States at the moment. Having an American citizen (not to mention a member of our military) locked up in one of his prisons would simply serve as more fuel on a fire that's already threatening to burn out of control. King may have simply been seen as more of a potential problem than any value he might have as a bargaining chip. That same scenario may have been what led to this seemingly generous sentence. The Army (and the White House) probably determined that it would be better to sweep this under the rug and make the entire mess go away. 

That doesn't make this a good decision in the end, however. It sets a terrible example for the rest of the troops. The Army runs on discipline and following the chain of command. Seeing Travis King get off with this sort of a sweetheart deal may give others similar ideas. Let's hope that it doesn't play out that way.