NORTH Korea has expelled an American soldier who bolted into the hermit kingdom in an apparent bid to defect to Kim Jong-un's regime.

       Travis King, 23, was handed back into American custody today after he darted across the North Korean border during a guided tour of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) in July.

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       Travis King has been expelled from North Korea and is back in American custody Credit: AP 3

       The rogue soldier was spotted on his tour moments before darting behind the border Credit: REUTERS

       US officials said King was transferred into their custody in China.

       The Private 2nd Class soldier was with a group of tourists visiting the Joint Security Area on the border between North and South Korea when he unexpectedly sprinted across the heavily fortified frontier.

       He had just been released from prison for assault in South Korea and was due to be transferred back to the States.

       North Korean authorities agreed to remove King from the country after questioning him, state media KCNA reported.

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       His future remains uncertain after re-entering American custody after he was designated AWOL by the US government.

       AWOL status can mean punishment by time in military jail, no pay or a dishonourable discharge from the military.

       North Korea claimed King confessed to illegally entering the country because he harboured ill-feeling against "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army".

       King was the first American to be detained in North Korea in almost five years.

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       At the time he crossed the border, he was supposed to be heading to Fort Bliss, Texas, following his release from prison in South Korea on an assault conviction.

       A court fined him 5million won ($3,950) in February after convicting him of assaulting a 23-year-old at a Seoul nightclub and damaging a police vehicle last October.

       After King fled into North Korea, his mum Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, said: "I can't see Travis doing anything like that."

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       He fled across the border while stationed in South Korea Credit: Facebook / Travis King