Travis King, the US soldier who fled from South to North Korea last year before being returned home, has been sentenced to one year of confinement on charges including desertion and assault of a non-commissioned officer.

But with time already served and credit for good behaviour, the 24-year-old Army private walked free, his legal team told the BBC.

At Friday’s hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the original 14 military charges that had been filed against him. The other charges were dismissed.

He was questioned by the military judge about his decision to flee across the border into North Korea in July 2023. King joined the army in January 2021 and was in South Korea as part of a unit rotation when he crossed into North Korea.

At his hearing on Friday, King told military judge Lt Col Rick Mathew that he had decided to flee the US Army because he was “dissatisfied” with work and had been thinking about leaving for about a year before he bolted into North Korea.

“I wanted to desert from the US Army and never come back,” King said, according to reporters inside the courtroom.

He also said he had been diagnosed with mental health conditions, though he maintained he was fit to stand trial and understood the charges.

King illegally crossed into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the village of Panmunjom, located on the heavily guarded Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.