Pvt. Travis King, the American soldier who crossed into North Korea two months ago, is in U.S. custody, U.S. officials said Wednesday. 

Earlier Wednesday, North Korea said it was expelling King, 23. That announcement surprised some observers who had expected the North to drag out his detention in the hopes of squeezing concessions from Washington at a time of high tensions between the rivals.

U.S. senior administration officials told reporters no concessions were given to North Korea.

Officials said multiple U.S. government agencies worked since King’s defection to facilitate his return “out of concern for Pvt. King’s well-being and a desire to reunite him with his family,” with whom the U.S. remained in regular contact.

King was transferred out of North Korea at its border with China, which played a role in the handover but not in the negotiations, the U.S. said. Around 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, U.S. officials said King had departed Chinese airspace and was en route to an American military base.

King “appears to be in good health and good spirits as he makes his way home,” an official said.

He is being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, another U.S. official told The Associated Press. King is expected to arrive overnight. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military movements.

“U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. “We appreciate the dedication of the interagency team that has worked tirelessly out of concern for Private King’s wellbeing.”

American officials said Sweden, the “protecting power” of the United States and other countries without diplomatic relations with North Korea, played a pivotal role in the talks, including informing the U.S. earlier this month that Pyongyang was open to releasing King. 

U.S. officials said they also worked with the United Nations and other nations with diplomatic ties to North Korea. 

Though King’s expulsion resolves a still-mysterious episode, it almost certainly does not end his troubles or ensure the sort of celebratory homecoming that has accompanied the releases of other detained Americans. His fate remains uncertain, having been declared AWOL by the U.S. government. That can mean punishment by time in military jail, forfeiture of pay or a dishonorable discharge.

Asked about the possibility of a court-martial, one of the senior administration officials on a press call said the immediate focus is on “caring for Pvt. King and his family,” including addressing “any medical and emotional concerns.”

“As far as anything after that … we'll work through all those administrative status questions following completion of his reintegration,” the official said.

King, who had served in South Korea, sprinted into North Korea while on a civilian tour of a border village on July 18, becoming the first American confirmed to be detained in the North in nearly five years.

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

On Wednesday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that authorities finished their questioning of King. It said that he confessed to illegally entering the North because he harbored “ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” within the U.S. Army and was “disillusioned about the unequal U.S. society.”

The state-run agency has attributed similar comments to King before; verifying their authenticity is impossible.

In an interview last month with The Associated Press, King’s mother, Claudine Gates, said her son had reason to want to come home.

“I just can’t see him ever wanting to just stay in Korea when he has family in America. He has so many reasons to come home,” she said.

In a statement Wednesday, Jonathan Franks, spokesperson for Gates, said: “Ms. Gates will be forever grateful to the United States Army and all its interagency partners for a job well done. For the foreseeable future, the family asks for privacy and Ms. Gates does not intend to give any interviews.”

A U.S. official said Wednesday that King is “very happy to be on his way home.” He and his family had spoken before being reunited, the official said.

King, who is from Wisconsin, was among about 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea. U.S. officials had expressed concern about King’s well-being, citing the North’s harsh treatment of some American detainees in the past.

Unauthorized crossings across the Demilitarized Zone separating the Koreas are extremely rare. The few Americans who crossed into North Korea in the past include soldiers, missionaries, human rights advocates or those simply curious about one of the world’s most cloistered societies.

North Korea’s decision to release King after 71 days appears relatively quick by the country’s standards, especially considering the tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over the North’s growing nuclear weapons and missile program and the United States' expanding military exercises with South Korea. Some had speculated that North Korea might treat King as a propaganda asset or bargaining chip.

In the end, the North apparently concluded that King simply wasn’t worth keeping, possibly because of the cost of providing him food and accommodation and assigning him guards and translators when he was never to be a meaningful source of U.S. military intelligence, said Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.

Captive Americans have been flown to China previously. In other cases, an envoy has been sent to retrieve them.

That happened in 2017 when North Korea deported Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was in a coma at the time of his release and later died.

Bill Richardson — who up until his death served as an unofficial diplomatic troubleshooter — traveled to North Korea in 2007 to recover the remains of servicemembers killed in the Korea War.