North Korea said on Wednesday that U.S. soldier Travis King has expressed a willingness to seek refuge in the country after crossing into the North last month.

The regime's official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) published an article on findings of the preliminary investigation into the U.S. servicemember, saying that King “illegally” intruded into North Korean territory.

In the first comment by Pyongyang on Private King’s crossing of the military demarcation line from South Korea into North Korea on July 18 while on a civilian tour at the Joint Security Area, the KCNA characterized it as an intentional move.

The article said that during the investigation, King confessed that he had decided to come over to the North as he “harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.”

The KCNA said that the soldier expressed disillusionment with the inequality of U.S. society and expressed his willingness to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country, adding that the investigation will continue.

[Photo : YONHAP News]