Travis King, the American soldier who crossed into North Korea in July, fled because of “racial discrimination within the U.S. Army,” according to DPRK state media.

It’s possible that Pyongyang just made this up to slander Washington, although King reportedly told his family he was experiencing racism. But whatever the reason, King wouldn’t be the first African American on the peninsula to reject the U.S. for similar reasons.

After the end of the Korean War on July 27, 1953, three African American prisoners of war (POWs) refused to go back to the U.S. One of them was Clarence Adams, from