Posted on 06/13/2005 8:58:40 AM PDT by robowombat
Deserter Charles Jenkins Visits U.S. Associated Press June 13, 2005
TOKYO - Charles Jenkins, a U.S. soldier who deserted his Army unit 40 years ago and fled to North Korea, and his Japanese wife left their home in northern Japan on Monday for his first visit to the United States since he turned himself in late last year.
Jenkins was scheduled to fly to Washington D.C. on Tuesday after spending a night in Tokyo. He has said he has no plans to move to the United States, but has repeatedly said he wants to see his 91-year-old mother, who lives in a nursing home in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.
He was expected to stay in the United States for about a week.
Jenkins, 65, served 25 days in a U.S. military jail in Japan last year after a court-martial. He came to Japan in July to be with his Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1978 but allowed to return home in 2002.
The couple, who met in North Korea, have two daughters. The daughters were also expected to travel with Jenkins on Tuesday.
Jenkins' plight became a national issue in Japan because Soga was one of at least a dozen Japanese kidnapped and taken to the North to serve as teachers for its spies. Her mother, who also disappeared the night she was kidnapped, has never been found.
After a flurry of diplomatic negotiations spearheaded by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the North allowed her and four other abductees to come home two years ago, but Jenkins and their daughters Mika, now 21, and Brinda, 19, stayed in North Korea. Koizumi made a personal appeal during a summit in Pyongyang, and Jenkins and his daughters came in July to Japan, where he surrendered to U.S. military authorities.
There's no prison in the US that doesn't seem like a paradise compared to 40 years in NK.
Is there an companion article with about a ticker tape parade hosted by other traitors like Hanoi jane fonda?
(I know different war, but same thinking).
Really? I'm shocked. We'd be so happy to have him back, too. Maybe he'd be willing to take a few like-minded citizens back with him.
I think there's evidence he was mentally deranged as a teenage recruit. 40 years in NK is penalty enough.
ping
And you only get 25 DAYS in prison for this?
I don't think he kidnapped his wife.
It says that he met his wife in North Korea, that would have been after she was kidnapped.
All is forgiven... now return to North Korea where you belong.
I don't know if he kidnapped his wife. Teaching others to be spies is what caught my eye.
I don't think he had much to teach.
Tell me tell me was he received at the airport by Dean???
We (the company I work for) carried this guy, his wife and his entire entourage on one of our 50 seat regional jets, for the domestic portion of his trip. The press was at the gate when the new crew arrived to pick up the plane. They new nothing of what was going on. Needless to say, we got a phonecall from the flight deck and got a play by play..
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