SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥 Maybe it never made sense for North Korea to hold on to Pvt. Travis King.
Just over two months after he sprinted into North Korea across the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, King was after the North released him into U.S. custody.
Several had been held for over a year 鈥 17 months in the case of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was arrested during a group tour. Warmbier was , and later died.
King鈥檚 case was unique, not least because he was one of the 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea to deter potential aggression from the nuclear-armed North.
There had been speculation that North Korea would try to maximize the propaganda value of an active duty U.S. soldier who voluntarily crossed into its territory, reportedly because he was disillusioned with racism in the military and American society.
The North has often been accused of using American detainees as bargaining chips, but Biden administration officials said they made no concessions to .
Pyongyang did not provide a detailed explanation when it announced the expulsion. In a brief report, the official Korean Central News Agency said King confessed to illegally entering the North because he harbored 鈥渋ll feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination鈥 within the U.S. Army and was 鈥渄isillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.鈥
It had attributed similar comments to King before, and verifying their authenticity is impossible. Some previous foreign detainees have said after their releases that declarations of guilt while in North Korean custody were made under coercion.
The North may have simply decided that King was more trouble than he was worth.
Analysts say the 23-year-old鈥檚 legal troubles could have limited his propaganda value. At the time he crossed the border in July, King was supposed to be , following his release from prison in South Korea on an assault conviction.
As a low-ranking serviceman, King was clearly not a meaningful source of U.S. military information. The North would have been unable to justify the costs of providing him food, accommodation, security guards and translators, especially when it was uncertain what it would get from the United States amid stalled diplomacy.
鈥淣orth Korea is actually good at doing the math on these things,鈥 said Moon Seong Mook, a retired South Korean brigadier general who participated in past military talks with the North.
鈥淭hey concluded that the longer he stays, the more of a burden he becomes.鈥
Pyongyang probably also didn't want to wait out a protracted negotiation with the U.S. Considering their prolonged diplomatic freeze, any gain was unlikely to be worth the trouble of dragging out his detention.
North Korea likely spent much of King's 71 days in custody weighing his potential as a propaganda asset. In the end, KCNA鈥檚 brief description of King鈥檚 supposed frustrations with American society and the U.S. military was all the North was going to get out of him, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul鈥檚 Korea Institute for 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Unification.
King鈥檚 release comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un actively boosts his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation and insert Pyongyang into a united front against Washington.
Some experts say Kim鈥檚 push, highlighted by a recent trip to Russia that sparked Western worries about a , signals a deeper shift in North Korea鈥檚 foreign policy away from efforts to pry concessions out of Washington.
"Releasing King, in this manner, underwrites Pyongyang鈥檚 ongoing statements of disinterest in diplomacy with Washington more credibly," said Ankit Panda, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
鈥淲hen North Korea still valued concessions and diplomacy with the United States, it appeared to view American citizens as a somewhat useful bargaining chip,鈥 said Panda. 鈥淭heir statement makes no effort more broadly to link King鈥檚 deportation with broader diplomatic or strategic concerns.鈥
Unauthorized crossings across the Demilitarized Zone separating the Koreas are extremely unusual, and King was the first American soldier to do it in decades. Previous soldier defectors, like Charles Jenkins or James Dresnok in the 1960s, were treated by Pyongyang as propaganda assets, showcased in leaflets and films attacking the U.S. and praising the North鈥檚 regime.
Other Americans were based on confessions of anti-state activities they later said were coerced. Freeing them often required lengthy backdoor negotiations and high-profile U.S. officials flying into Pyongyang to secure their release.
King鈥檚 case was different in many ways.
King's legal troubles and the intense media coverage surrounding his dash across the border zone likely made it difficult for Pyongyang鈥檚 propaganda writers to craft a story about a disillusioned U.S. soldier escaping evil imperialists, Hong said.
鈥淓veryone knew why it happened and everyone saw how it happened,鈥 he said.
Hong said King鈥檚 swift release also reflects North Korean efforts to present itself as a responsible government that abides by international norms and laws, and may be meant to answer criticism about its human rights record as it seeks to build a more assertive diplomatic profile.
During a session of North Korea鈥檚 rubber-stamp parliament this week, Kim Jong Un confronting the United States in a 鈥渘ew Cold War,鈥 KCNA said Thursday.
鈥淚 think the only reason they would have considered keeping (King), was the discrimination angle, to be able to put a face to counter-criticisms of America鈥檚 human rights situation,鈥 said Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and director of the North Korea-focused 38 North website.
鈥淏ut that doesn鈥檛 seem to have been compelling enough for them to let him stay.鈥
Unauthorized foreigners are always a sensitive matter for North Korea, which worries about them 鈥減olluting鈥 citizens' minds with subversive ideas, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
They can also become an international diplomatic liability, especially if their health suffers in the harsh conditions of detention, like Warmbier.
鈥淔ortunately for Pvt. Travis King, the Kim regime appears to have decided to take only limited propaganda gains from his case and deport him before he causes any more trouble,鈥 Easley said.
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Kim Tong-hyung has been covering the Koreas for The Associated Press since 2014.
