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The mom of a U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea is pleading for help with her son's return home.
According to WISN, Pvt. Travis King was accused of assault and damaging a police car while in South Korea. He was released from a South Korean detention facility on Monday (July 21) before he crossed the border into North Korea without authorization.
Since entering North Korea, King's exact whereabouts and well-being have remained unknown.
King's mom, Claudine Gates, is asking people to pray for her son.
"I just want my son back. I just want my son back. Get my son home. Get my son home and pray, pray that he comes back," Gates told WISN.
U.S. officials said King was supposed to board a flight back to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he would've been potentially discharged from the army. During a guided tour, King crossed the demilitarized zone and went into North Korea.
"From my knowledge, I just heard that he, I guess, got into a fight with some Koreans," Myron Gates, King's uncle, said. "And it was kind of hard, you know, to believe in that too. Like, somebody had to push him to do that because he's not a violent-type person."
Family members said King wanted to join the army to "do something positive."
"I know he's in a real bad place, a bad situation," his uncle said. "And I'm hoping that they let him come home and he'll be back around his mama or get him some help or something like that."
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