Lawmakers are worried about the “price” the U.S. must pay for the return of an AWOL Army soldier who defected to North Korea.
Travis T. King is still being detained in North Korea after he sprinted across the border on July 18.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul isn’t sure King is worth the “price” for his return.
“Is he defecting? I think it was more running from his problems,” McCaul, R-Texas, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday.
“That was the wrong place to go. But we see this with Russia, China, Iran — when they take an American, particularly a soldier, captive, they exact a price for that,” McCaul said. “And that’s what I worry about.”
“I’m sure that he’s not being treated very well,” McCaul added. “I think it was a serious mistake on his part, and I hope we can get him back.”
King, 23, served nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault. He was released on July 10 and was scheduled to return to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he faced further disciplinary action.
King was escorted to the airport but he never boarded the plane on July 18. Officials say King left the airport and blended in with tourists at the border’s demilitarized zone. He then “bolted” between 2 blue buildings and into North Korea, the Defense Department said.
If King is released, he faces prison time for going AWOL and a dishonorable discharge from the Army.
King is not being paid his Army salary while he is in North Korea.
Watch King’s mother’s interview below.
