If the accusations are true, I wonder if he was dumb enough to tell the DPRK authorities that's the reason he fled.

That would explain why they kicked his ass back to the US.

Could be, but once he did it's no longer possible to find out why from USA media. If he published anything before he become a PR problem for the USA, then that's the most credible bit of information on the story, even if it's false, because at least there's doubt. A later refute by the USA is guaranteed to paint him in a negative light, using true or false information. If Korea published anything, then that's credible as well most likely. Anything the USA says to save face is said to save face. They could use real facts to make their case for them, or they could make things up. We have no way of knowing, so we should assume it's made up.

Um that's a bit of a stretch.

I mean I wouldn't say it's impossible and if I were an amoral person in charge of CIA/State Dept and trying to discredit people it is an obvious thing to reach for, but there's no real history of them regularly, routinely lobbing accusations like this around. Nor is it necessary in this case.

I further don't suppose it's necessary to invent something provable like this to tar and feather this guy. He doesn't need to be torn down and turned into a monster because no one cared to begin with, he's a nobody. He'll disappear just as fast forever. If he was a somebody, like that famous footballer who went to Iraq and had credibility, followers, possibility of future platforms it might make sense to need to character assassinate in such a way as to pre-emptively silence them and make everyone turn their backs in disgust and disregard them. But he's not. He's a nobody. He can easily be dismissed as mentally unwell, as crazed, as whatever they want and no one is going to look much into it. Him saying he was treated well in the DPRK would receive no audience or just be used as further evidence of DPRK propaganda and conniving and/or his own bad mental state.

People won't find it a reach to think he acted irrationally with a flight or fight response when faced with prison and think nothing more of the situation, it won't change minds on the DPRK.

I'll admit the fact he's low ranking, probably not from money and black probably means a harsher reaction than if he'd been from a wealthy family, an officer, white (they probably would have swept it under the rug, goodness knows the US military is full of monsters, predators, etc as they're constantly catching them in stings outside military bases and that's when their special forces aren't being caught running child sex rings on-base). But that doesn't mean it's not very fucked up and criminal.