Family members say US Army private who crossed into North Korea may have felt overwhelmed

The U.S. Army private who ran into North Korea and was arrested earlier this week had been charged with assault in South Korea and may have felt overwhelmed by the legal trouble, his family said.

Travis King, 23, who became the first American detained by North Korea in five years, was visiting the border with South Korea as a civilian on a tour but is an active duty service member. 

“I can’t see him doing that intentionally if he was in his right mind,” his grandfather, Carl Gates, told The Associated Press from his Kenosha, Wis., home. “Travis is a good guy. He wouldn’t do nothing to hurt nobody. And I can’t see him trying to hurt himself.”

Family members also said that King was also grieving the death of his 7-year-old cousin, who died of a rare disease in February.

“I don’t understand why he would do that, because it seemed like he was on his way back here to the United States,” said his uncle, Myron Gates. “He was on his way home.”

Attempts to reach North Korean diplomats and negotiate King’s return have been unsuccessful, the AP noted.

“Yesterday, the Pentagon reached out to counterparts in the Korean People’s Army. My understanding is that those communications have not yet been answered,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Wednesday.

The U.S. has also attempted to reach North Korean officials via Swedish diplomats, as Sweden has helped negotiate past agreements with the country.

King was reportedly released from prison earlier this month in South Korea after serving more than a month for assault. He also damaged a police car and punched a man at a nightclub, according to the AP.

He was scheduled to fly to Texas on Tuesday but instead left the airport and found his way to the border. King’s family said he may have felt overwhelmed by the arrest, fearful that he would be discharged from the Army.

Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have heightened recently; last week, North Korea launched its most advanced intercontinental missile test into the Sea of Japan, drawing international condemnation of the country’s missile program.

An American nuclear submarine visited South Korea on Tuesday for the first time since the 1980s; North Korea responded by launching two smaller ballistic missiles Wednesday.