Posted on 11/03/2004 7:16:45 AM PST by Valin
Four decades after he vanished into North Korea, an American soldier today pleaded guilty before a US military court to desertion and tearfully recounted how depression and fear of death drove him to defect.
Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, now a frail 64-year-old, was given a light 30-day jail term in a case that had pitted American demands for justice with Tokyo’s call for leniency so Jenkins could settle down in Japan with his Japanese wife.
In gripping court-martial testimony that shed light on a long-standing Cold War mystery, Jenkins said that he never intended to stay in North Korea, and detailed the harsh treatment - including beatings - he was subject to since defecting to the Stalinist state in 1965.
Jenkins, in full military dress for the proceedings on a US Army base outside Tokyo, boldly owned up to his crimes.
"Ma’am, I am in fact guilty," he told the judge, Colonel Denise Vowell. He also pleaded guilty to aiding the enemy by teaching English to military cadets in the 1980s, though he said he and his family would have faced hardship if he refused.
Jenkins, however, denied that he advocated the overthrow of the United States in propaganda broadcasts, and pleaded not guilty to charges of making disloyal statements. Those charges were dropped.
Colonel Vowell recommended that Jenkins’ 30-day jail term be suspended, and military officials were to rule on that recommendation soon. He had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Jenkins’s plea was part of a bargain with US military officials to win a lenient sentence, and came after a call by the Japanese government for gentle treatment of the American. His Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga, was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1978 and married the soldier two years later in the reclusive country.
Her plight has inspired widespread sympathy here, and the government has pressed for a legal settlement that would allow the couple and their two North Korean-born daughters to live together in Japan.
Howard Baker, the US ambassador in Japan, welcomed the conclusion of the court-martial, but denied Washington and Tokyo - close allies - had negotiated a settlement. "The case was rightly handled within the US military justice system," he said
Jenkins turned himself into US military authorities on Sept. 11, two months after he left Pyongyang with his two daughters and came to Japan for medical treatment. Soga was allowed to return to Japan in 2002, but her family stayed behind in North Korea.
During the morning testimony, Jenkins wept as he described his depression, fears of death and heavy drinking in the days leading up to his disappearance on January 5, 1965, He said he was afraid of being transferred to dangerous daytime patrols in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, or worse: Vietnam.
"I started to fear something for myself, but I started to fear even more that I might cause other soldiers to be killed. I started drinking alcohol," he said, breaking down in tears. "I never drank so much before."
After 10 days of planning, he headed for North Korea with a white tee-shirt tied to his rifle as a surrender flag.
Jenkins told the court of his unlikely plan to ask the North Koreans to send him to the Soviet Union, where he would turn himself in to the US Embassy in Moscow and return to the United States. Instead, Jenkins said he was harshly mistreated in North Korea. Soga also pleaded with the court for leniency, saying that Jenkins had provided for his family despite grueling conditions in North Korea.
Jenkins was also demoted to the lowest military ranking, E-1, and was forced to forfeit all pay and stripped of his military benefits. He was to be taken to Yokosuka Naval Base just outside of Tokyo, where he is to be confined unless the sentence is suspended.
The court-martial was the climax to one of the Army’s longest desertion sagas. Though Army deserters from the 1940s are still being sought, no deserter or desertion suspect has surrendered after as long an absence as Jenkins.
Raised in poverty in North Carolina, Jenkins had a strong record of conduct in the military until he disappeared from his unit. He later participated in North Korean propaganda broadcasts, played an American villain in at least one anti-US movie, and taught English to North Koreans.
Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, now a frail 64-year-old, was given a light 30-day jail term, and a heavy 39 year sentence to live in North Korea. With 39 years of time served in North Korea, Jenkins has only the 30 day jail term left to serve.
I think he should have to serve his 30days.
In related news, long-time Vietnam War traitor John Kerry...um...oh wait, not yet.
Assuming the conditions of confinement are consistent with proper treatment of his health issues, I agree. Perhaps a 'jail ward' at the military hospital where he is now. Then, get as much intelligence information from him as possible.
They should have shot him for treason.
The guys was and is obviously nuts.
John Kerry
Who?
N. Korea scares the crap out of me and here's why. A good friend of mine was serving as a deck officer on a (merchant) humanitarian grain ship going into N. Korea in the summer of 2002. Essentially, we sell N. Korea grain at really reduced prices so they don't all starve. He gives this account of an unloading operation:
To hoist the grain out of the holds, workers go down and place it into burlap sacks. A crane lowers a net and the sacks are placed inside, then lifed off the ship. Men carry the bags to warehouses. (In the US, we have conveyors and machinery) During the process, some grain escapes from the holes in the bags and falls to the ground. When not carrying sacks, workers dig grain particles out of the pavement, hoping to collect enough to feed their family that night. The workers in the holds overloaded one net so that 6 or 7 bags were hanging half over the side of the net. The crane operator (they are paid more and known to drink heavily because they can afford it) lifeted the load far higher than necessary to clear the hatch coaming. Swinging the load over the dock, he failed to check the swing of the load by coming to an abrupt stop instead of gradually slowing. One bag (probably about 80 pounds) fell from the load at a height of no less than 100 feet. A worker on the deck was bending over, picking grain from the ground and was hit square between the shoulderblades. Obviously, he was killed instantly. The grain bag burst open and splattered blood and grain all over the dock. The other workers standing by immediately grabbed the shards of burlap and picked all of the grain off the ground leaving the body lying on the dock. The body was not moved for several hours until it interfered with the path of the crane. My friend is unsure of what they did with the body afterwards. The blood was not cleaned from the dock, to his knowledge.
That's N. Korea, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure this man is extremely thankful he is being allowed to live in Japan for the remainder of his days.
"They should have shot him for treason."
Perhaps, but they did not. In fact, he was not on trial for treason. He was on trial for desertion. The court gave him the sentence they gave him. The case is over.
Well, he pled guilty to desertion and aiding the enemy.
Giving him a slap on the wrist, regardless of his age or condition, demeans and marginalizes the efforts of those that were also afraid and depressed but held steady and did their job. A lot of them died doing it too. It defiles their service as far as I'm concerned.
IMO, he’s not worthy of compassion or pity or gentle treatment. Our family had three (think that’s right) killed in Korea. A lot more were drafted and served in various places. Others voluntarily joined, pretty much convinced that they’d be drafted ultimately anyway.
Also had an aunt that was sufficiently worried that her youngest would be drafted and sent to Viet Nam that she ended up having a stroke. That’s what the doctors claimed at the time anyway.
Still, nobody ran to Canada or deserted – even though, to a man I’m sure they thought they were on the short end of a s#itty deal.
That’s why many of them were infuriated when Carter pardoned the draft dodgers. Many of them of the opinion that America was not worthy of military protection if they’d spit in their faces like that.
This case is sort of similar, at least to me. The military is doing it to themselves though and they’re not soliciting my advise, so whatever.
That's N. Korea, ladies and gentlemen.
Well put.
I wonder if this traitor will now ask for forgiveness and send some flowers to the graves of two of my best buds who gave their lives in Korea? I doubt it--he's a coverted commie.
I've read stories of Soviet troops reduced to eating dog food and drinking eau de cologne for booze.
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