Travis King, the 23-year-old American soldier who crossed the border into North Korea “willfully and without authorization” on Tuesday, had been “breaking down” after the tragic death of his 7-year-old cousin earlier this year, King’s uncle told The Daily Beast.
Carl Gates, the brother of King’s mother, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that he had been one of the last people to communicate with King over the phone before he defected to North Korea.
“His mom came down on a few occasions, and she then talked to him and let him know what was going on with my son. And it seemed like he was breaking down. It affected Travis a lot,” Gates told The Daily Beast. “Because he couldn’t be here. He was in the Army, overseas.”
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Gates’ son, King’Nazir, died in late February 2023 from a rare genetic disorder that had him on life support in the final days of his life. His case made local news headlines as one of few children in the world to have been diagnosed with SPTLC 2, which is untreatable.
“When my son was on life support, and when my son passed away… Travis started [being] reckless [and] crazy when he knew my son was about to die,” Gates, who described himself as “a father figure” to King, told The Daily Beast. “I know it was related to what he did.”
King, a U.S. Army private from Racine, Wisconsin, had been locked up in a South Korean detention center for 47 days before being scheduled to fly back to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday, according to U.S. officials who spoke to CBS and ABC.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that King had faced two assault allegations and had been fined for damaging a police car in South Korea in an incident last October.
He was reportedly escorted to Incheon International Airport as far as the customs checkpoint—but instead of boarding the plane, he left the airport and joined an organized tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and Joint Security Area (JSA) separating the Korean Peninsula.
While the tour was underway, King “crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the United States Command said in a statement. “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.”
One witness quoted by NK News, who was reportedly on the same tour King had joined, recounted the moment King allegedly made a run for it—away from the group and across the border into North Korea.
“To our right, we hear a loud HA-HA-HA and one guy from OUR GROUP that has been with us all day runs in between two of the buildings and over to the other side… It took everybody a second to react and grasp what had actually happened, then we were ordered into and through Freedom House and running back to our military bus,” the witness allegedly wrote in a social media post.
King’s uncle Gates told The Daily Beast that the U.S. soldier “loved and cherished” his son, adding that he was concerned for the family in the aftermath of the tragic death.
“Picture yourself being in the Army and your baby cousin from your favorite, my only child, he’s struggling and going through pain. And he’s crying like a baby, and now you’re in the service and you can’t do nothing about it. And then you’re crying like a baby,” Gates said. “The pain came from my son, and it escalated to this shit.”
In a statement to ABC, King’s mother, Claudina Gates, said she was shocked by the news of his crossing into North Korea and that she only wants “him to come home.”
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. government’s first priority is “the welfare of our troop,” adding that he expects more information about King’s circumstances to emerge in the next few days.
