SEOUL, Aug 16 (Reuters) - North Korea has concluded that U.S. soldier Travis King wants refuge there or elsewhere because of "inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination" in the U.S. and the military, state media said on Wednesday.

It was the North's first public acknowledgement of the army private's crossing from South Korea on July 18 while on a civilian tour of the Joint Security Area (JSA) on the heavily fortified border between the neighbours.

"During the investigation, Travis King confessed that he had decided to come over to the DPRK as he harbored ill feeling against inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army," KCNA said, using the North's official name.

In August, King's uncle, Myron Gates, told ABC News that his nephew, who is Black, was experiencing racism during his military deployment, and that after he spent time in a South Korean jail, he did not sound like himself.

It added that King's mother had been in touch with the Army and appreciated a statement by the U.S. Department of Defense that it remained focused on bringing him home.

A spokesman for the United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees the border village where King crossed, said he did not have anything to add to previous statements.

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