Posted on 07/13/2004 7:57:20 PM PDT by HAL9000
The United States has notified Japan that a US Army sergeant who allegedly defected to North Korea nearly 40 years ago was still wanted on charges of desertion, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.Charles Robert Jenkins, 64, who left North Korea last week for a reunion with his Japanese wife in Indonesia has expressed a desire to move to Japan, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
"We have notified the government of Japan that Sergeant Jenkins has been charged with desertion," said Lieutenant Commander Flex Plexico.
"We consider the charges serious, and the best course of action is to resolve in the matter in accordance with the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice)," he said.
Plexico said the charges against Jenkins, who disappeared on patrol in Korea in 1965, have been "in abeyance" and there is no statute of limitations on desertion charges.
U.S. says no change in custody policy on Jenkins
WASHINGTON, July 13, Kyodo - The United States reiterated Tuesday that there is no change in its policy of taking Charles Jenkins, the American husband of former Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga, into custody because of his status as a U.S. Army deserter to North Korea.
''I think they (the Japanese government) understand our position that Sergeant Jenkins does face potentially serious charges if he is in a place where he is subject,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
His comments came after Japanese government sources said in Tokyo on Tuesday that Japan has sounded out Jenkins about coming to Japan for medical treatment.
Jenkins has been staying in Jakarta since Friday with Soga and their two North Korean-born daughters. Following his reunion with Soga, Jenkins has expressed a wish to live in Japan if he is guaranteed not to be put in custody.
By taking him to Japan for hospital treatment, Japan is seeking to gain U.S. consent to waive a request that Tokyo hand him over.
''It's a matter we'll keep in touch with the Japanese government on,'' Boucher said. ''But as far as what they do or what he (Jenkins) decides to do, those are the facts that have to be taken into account.''
Soga was abducted by North Korean agents in 1978 and repatriated in 2002, leaving Jenkins and their two daughters behind. The U.S. military lists Jenkins as having deserted the U.S. Army in 1965 while serving as a sergeant near the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Jenkins has reportedly refused to come to Japan due to fear Japan will hand him over to the United States for a court-martial under a bilateral extradition treaty. Indonesia has no such treaty with the United States.
The treaty has no clause to limit extradition of a culprit under treatment, but whether to actually hand a suspect over in such a case is often left to a judgment of circumstances, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
"Flex Plexico"???. Sounds like a name out of a James Bond movie.
Isn't it nice how NK just grabs citizens.
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