US Soldier, who fleed to North Korea, has escaped "mistreatment and racial discrimination in the US Army", North Korean state media said Wednesday.
Travis King, a private second class, supposed to return to his home, but, he left South Korea's main airport, and joined a tourist trip to DMZ, before acrossing the borders to North Korea.
The United States said earlier that King crossed the border "willfully and without authorization".
King "admitted that he illegally intruded" after an investigation conducted by the North Korea authorities, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
It said: "Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army."
It added: King "came to be kept under control by soldiers of the Korean People's Army" after he crossed the border.
"He also expressed his willingness to seek refugee in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society."
The United Nations Command said, last month, that it started talks with North Korea about the situation of King.
On his side, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had no idea where King was or in what condition, despite of the talks with the Noth Koreans.
The North Korean state media didn't provide any details about King's health or location.