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AMERICAN SERVICEMAN CONFIRMED ALIVE IN NORTH KOREA!!! (BREAKING)
Associated Press ^ | 2 October 2002 | Yuri Kageyama

Posted on 10/02/2002 8:26:35 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo

Edited on 07/06/2004 6:37:57 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

TOKYO (AP) -- An American serviceman who defected to North Korea later married a Japanese woman who had been abducted by North Korean agents, and both are now living in the North's capital, Pyongyang, a senior Japanese official said Wednesday.


(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Japan
KEYWORDS: defection; japanese; northkorea; us; usservicement
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To: AntiGuv
That's exactly what I was thinking myself. I cannot conceive of any reason why an American serviceman would defect to North Korea. If the North Koreans can kidnap Japanese girls from Europe, it's certainly not strange to think that they can snatch the occasional soldier in the DMZ.

We shouldn't be assuming that these guys defected until we *know* they defected.

Being AWOL is not proof of defection; they very well may have been ambushed and taken. Maybe they were off the base without permission and were grabbed but didn't defect.

People here shouldn't jump to conclusions. Just because there's certainly a possibility, even a probability, that they defected doesn't mean that other alternatives are possible.

The other issue is the number of past credible reports of elderly white men teaching English to North Korean soldiers, far more than four possible defectors. In other words, American POWs who were never returned after the Korean War ended.

21 posted on 10/02/2002 9:01:18 AM PDT by Numbers Guy
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To: Drango
The question is, are they infact deserters or were they taken like the Japanese. From what I've heard about American in the 1960s, especially in the military, this is highly unlikely...especially to have lost almost 1 per year during this period..then none after. Something doesn't make sense.
22 posted on 10/02/2002 9:01:23 AM PDT by Dead Dog
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To: AntiGuv
I cannot conceive of any reason why an American serviceman would defect to North Korea.

You've never seen what the unit s**tbirds will do to get away from the wrath of the company "first shirt."

23 posted on 10/02/2002 9:02:31 AM PDT by Poohbah
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To: Dead Dog
The question is, are they infact deserters or were they taken like the Japanese

If they didn't desert it's indeed another story.

5¢ a day will fund the filth at Salon. What will you donate to FreeRepublic?

24 posted on 10/02/2002 9:03:54 AM PDT by Drango
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Maybe North Korea will ship this cowardly traitor back to the states so he can enjoy a proper hanging.
25 posted on 10/02/2002 9:04:59 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo
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To: Poohbah
sh!tbirds are a unique species, and from what I've seen, they average about 1.5 per platoon. I've always assumed these were the ones that show up to antiwar rallies in partial uniform.
26 posted on 10/02/2002 9:08:45 AM PDT by Dead Dog
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Reality bump.

This is not in the local Korean news though:
http://www.kcna.co.jp/contents/01.htm#2

I like the dateline in that link:
"Pyongyang, October 1 (KCNA) -- The U.S. imperialist warmongers"...

27 posted on 10/02/2002 9:10:21 AM PDT by thunderdome
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Soga was abducted from Japan's secluded Sado island while shopping with her mother in August 1978.

This is just plain wierd. There's no rational reason to do something like this (not that Kim Il Sung, or his handsome son are rational).

I suppose in some twisted way they might have seen this as revenge for Japan's use of Korean "comfort women."

It's also possible, I suppose, that there have been many Japanese who were kidnapped, brainwashed, and repatriated as spies -- and that the missing ones were the ones who washed out of spy school....

28 posted on 10/02/2002 9:13:35 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: AmericanInTokyo
He was a defector.............let him rot there.
29 posted on 10/02/2002 9:18:21 AM PDT by OldFriend
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To: FormerLurker
Recall this happened during the "60s".
30 posted on 10/02/2002 9:19:54 AM PDT by cynicom
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To: AmericanInTokyo
If he defected, let him die there. He isn't worth the rope and I doubt the North Koreans, paranoid and secretive as they are, would have let him know anything about other Americans in North Korea.

If he was kidnapped, put every pressure on North Korea to turn over him and any other Americans who were either unreleased POW's or kidnapped.

There is just not enough information to determine whether these men went to North Korea willingly.

31 posted on 10/02/2002 9:23:34 AM PDT by Loyalist
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To: cynicom
Can we send them Jane Fonda? Maybe Ted Turner too?
32 posted on 10/02/2002 9:29:27 AM PDT by Bon mots
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To: Drango
Cowardly, traitor bump!
33 posted on 10/02/2002 9:33:39 AM PDT by Puppage
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To: Bon mots
Bon...

I can tolerate these boys much easier than the ones that ran to Canada or sandbagged their duty totally like Clinton and others. At least these soldiers admitted upfront, as to what they were, by defecting. Not too much difference between them and the other cowards.

34 posted on 10/02/2002 9:34:18 AM PDT by cynicom
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To: cynicom
Recall this happened during the "60s".

During the early to mid 60's, there was a strong patiotic fervor amongst those that entered the service. It wasn't until the late 60's and early 70's that the anti-war movement really picked up steam..

In fact, I'd say the anti-war demonstrations didn't really ratchet up the rhetoric until Woodstock, which took place in 1968. The student killings at Kent State occured in 1970, and Jane Fonda went to North Vietnam in 1972..

As Jenkins entered the service in 1965, my guess would be that there is more to this than is being reported. We can't assume that a US serviceman would simply want to desert his country and live in a hellpit such as North Korea for no reason. This is especially true after we take into consideration the fact that North Korea HAS kidnapped various persons in the past..

35 posted on 10/02/2002 9:42:26 AM PDT by FormerLurker
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To: AmericanInTokyo
In the White case I think a viable alternative explanation is that White was happy to shift his allegiance and underwent plastic surgery to alter his features enough that no one who knew him in his previous life would be able to positively recognise him.

He was given several years of intense trainin in the people's paradise during which time his keepers could make a determination of his reliability. After training was finished he was set up in some sort of NK front company in the orient, possibly Hong Kong, and provided anmple spending money and a luxurios apartment. His initial intelligence tasks were simple so his capacity could be monitored. The monitoring and mentoring was done through a very attractive Korean female that was an employee of the front company and soon moved in with our boy.

If he progressed adequately more tasks were given him of a progressively more difficult nature. If he was a flop he could have been pulled out of Hong Kong harbor after being filled with drink and drugs and dumped over the side one cold night.

The goal of his training was/is to advance him to a position in Europe or the US for intelligence gathering or technology transfer purposes. He may now be back in this country. Consider how easy it has been for obvious suspicious foreigners to establish themselves here. How much easier to plant a cuckoo who was originally an American.

The Chinese and the NK's know that their agents will always stand out in the west so the next best thing is a westerner who has been turned.They can never fully trust them but they can worm their way in places no oriental could without causing comment. What happened to the attractive female mentor. She is probably still with White if their personalities clicked. They probably have a couple children now.

Just think this couple could live right down the street from you in some nice suburb in Silicon Valley or Austin or some other tech center. That's right the friendly fellow down the street with the pretty oriental wife and the nice high achieving kids. A fantasy, maybe-maybe not.

36 posted on 10/02/2002 9:45:25 AM PDT by robowombat
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Why is it news today if we knew about it in 1996?
37 posted on 10/02/2002 9:51:57 AM PDT by wallcrawlr
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To: FormerLurker
Former...

The 1960s ushered in Camelot and the feel good era of free love and sex etc etc. These young men certainly did not defect north for reasons of ideology or from fear of combat as there was none.

Clinton and the other cowards openly stated their reasons, they loved self more than duty to country, so they are still among us.

For whatever reason the defectors went north, they have paid for their deeds. Clinton and the Canada people are enjoying the fruits of their cowardice.

38 posted on 10/02/2002 9:52:26 AM PDT by cynicom
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To: FormerLurker
When he dashed across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea while on a U.S. Army patrol on Jan. 5, 1965, Jenkins left behind a good-bye note in his barracks.

"Dear Mother: I am sorry for the trouble I will cause you," he wrote, according to Army records released to the AP under the Freedom of Information Act. "I know what I will have to do. I am going to North Korea.
Tell family I love them very much."

The Army later issued court-martial charges against Jenkins after determining that he had participated in North Korean propaganda broadcasts in which he said he enjoyed life in the communist North and urged U.S. soldiers in the South to desert.



There some info on google about him.

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=charles+jenkins+north+korea+propaganda&spell=1
39 posted on 10/02/2002 9:59:00 AM PDT by Iwentsouth
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To: AmericanInTokyo
Axis of Evil ping.
40 posted on 10/02/2002 10:04:03 AM PDT by My2Cents
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