Travis King: US soldier in N Korea had been held after fighting in Seoul

Travis King, the American soldier who fled to North Korea, had been detained for getting into fights in South Korea before he crossed the border.

Court documents showed he also damaged a police car and had recently spent time in a detention facility in Seoul.

The 23-year-old serviceman had been recently released and was being sent back to the US when he escaped.

He joined a tour of the Joint Security Area and fled into North Korea, which has not commented so far.

It remains unclear what his intentions were for crossing the border. US authorities have said that he did so "wilfully, of his own volition" and expressed concern about his well-being.

Private 2nd Class (PV2) King's mother Claudine Gates told ABC News she could not imagine her son doing such a thing. He "had to be out of his mind", she said.