For more than a month, observers have speculated whether North Korea will view Travis King as a useful propaganda tool for denouncing the U.S., or just a troublesome American who thinks he can claim asylum in the DPRK.

And judging from North Korea’s first-ever statement on the U.S. soldier, who crossed over during a tour of the inter-Korean border in July, it appears that even Pyongyang doesn’t yet know the answer to the question.

On Wednesday morning, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) claimedthat King fled to the DPRK because of “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination