Travis King expected to return to US in coming hours

Private Travis King, the U.S. soldier who ran into North Korea in July, is expected to return to the United States in the coming hours after he was expelled by North Korea into China, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller also told reporters he did not view King's return as a sign of a wider breakthrough with North Korea and that China had not served as a mediator in the matter, but rather as a transit point for the soldier. (Reporting By Daphne Psaledakis and Costas Pitas; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Chris Reese)