REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool
Travis King, the 23-year-old American soldier who crossed the border into North Korea “willfully and without authorization” on Tuesday had been “breaking down” after the tragic death of his 7-year-old cousin earlier this year, King’s uncle told The Daily Beast.
Carl Gates, the brother of King’s mother, said in a phone interview on Wednesday that he had been one of the last people to communicate with King over the phone before he defected to North Korea.
“His mom came down on a few occasions, and she then talked to him and let him know what was going on with my son. And it seemed like he was breaking down. It affected Travis a lot,” Gates told The Daily Beast. “Because he couldn’t be here. He was in the army, overseas.”