A U.S. soldier who made an unauthorized crossing into North Korea while on a tour of the truce village of Panmunjeom on Tuesday had reportedly been sentenced to prison labor in South Korea after failing to pay a fine for public property damage.

According to legal sources on Thursday, U.S. Forces Korea's Private Second Class Travis King failed to pay five million won, or around four-thousand U.S. dollars, as ordered in February for kicking and damaging a police car.

He instead spent 48 days in a prison labor facility in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, from May 24 through July 10.

Foreign media outlets earlier reported that King had been detained for nearly two months in a South Korean prison for assault.

After staying at a U.S. base in the country for about a week following his release, King was scheduled to board a plane back to Fort Bliss, Texas, on Monday to face military discipline, but he instead fled to join a tour of the Joint Security Area at the border between the two Koreas.

Running in between buildings into the North, King was reportedly seen cackling as the tour guides failed to catch him before he was taken into custody by North Korean soldiers. It remains unclear if his intention was to defect.

[Photo : YONHAP News]