North Korea leader Kim Jong-un must not have seen any value in the continued presence of Army Pvt. Travis King. King was released Wednesday and is back in U.S. custody.

North Korea decided to “expel” the soldier. Pvt. King is the U.S. soldier who crossed over the North Korean border in July. He joined the Army in 2021 and is a cavalry scout. He was one of about 28,000 American troops stationed in South Korea. He decided to separate from a group with whom he was touring the Demilitarized Zone, dressed in civilian clothes, and sprinted across the border into North Korea. The 23-year-old was suspected of seeking asylum in North Korea.

To say this is a bizarre story is to understate it. The U.S.-led command that oversees the Korean War truce got the U.N. Command (UNC) and North Korea together to negotiate the case soon after King pulled his stunt in July. Frankly, North Korea seemed to be as confused as the Army was over this episode. He is believed to be the first U.S. soldier to enter North Korea since 1982.

In U.S. military documents, King was described as “an embarrassment to the United States” before he ran away. The Pentagon instructed staff to use classified channels to discuss King following a string of leaks.

King went on the group tour of the demilitarized zone instead of showing up for his one-way flight back to the United States. He had a troubled record in the military. He spent 48 days in a South Korean prison after he failed to pay a fine associated with an assault case brought against him. He was supposed to be transferred to Fort Bliss, Texas, to face disciplinary action. He was escorted through airport security in South Korea before he slipped away and reentered the Demilitarized Zone.

Shortly after entering the country, King was taken into North Korean custody. A state media agency said that King had “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” and “was disillusioned at the unequal American society, he expressed his will to seek political asylum.”

North Korea has a history of using inequality in the United States as a way to deflect criticism regarding its own human rights record.

King was not declared a prisoner of war, in spite of the fact that the U.S. and North Korea are technically at war with each other.

King spent 71 days in North Korean custody before his release on Wednesday. His release was secured following “intense diplomacy” that officials said involved China and in particular Sweden, which helps represent U.S. interests in North Korea.

North Korea’s news agency released a statement. Reporting suggests he was released because he had no information or access to it that was of interest to the North Koreans.

“The relevant agency of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea decided to deport Travis King, an American soldier who illegally entered the territory of the Republic, in accordance with the laws of the Republic,” Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency reported earlier on Wednesday.

The reasons for the timing remain unclear; in the past other Americans have been kept in North Korea much longer. Some officials have suggested that he wasn’t valuable to North Korea because he didn’t have access to information and provided little leverage, according to the Associated Press.

His family said when he crossed over into North Korea that he was troubled by something going on in his family. King is now on his way to Texas and will be taken to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.

Senior officials said that King was “in good health and good spirits” after being taken into American custody.

“Private King was very happy to be on his way home. That has been quite clear as we have resumed our contact with him, and he is very much looking forward to being reunited with his family. That is the sentiment that is pervading all else right now,” said an official, according to ABC News.

King could face time in military jail or a dishonorable discharge for his flight across the North Korean border.

It will be interesting to see what happens to him. I imagine the Army will discharge him as quickly as possible and be done with him. At least we got this American back without shelling out billions of dollars or releasing a bad guy in exchange.