Ghostwolf
09-11-2004, 03:54 AM
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/jenkins.us/index.html
Friday, September 10, 2004 Posted: 10:21 PM EDT (0221 GMT)
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A one-time U.S. Army sergeant accused of defecting to North Korea 39 years ago has voluntarily turned himself in at a military base in Japan. Charles Robert Jenkins, 65, saluted the provost marshal, Lt. Col. Paul Nigeara, when he arrived at Camp Zama, accompanied by his wife and two daughters. Nigeara returned the salute.
Army officials planned to hold a news conference Saturday afternoon offering more details about Jenkins' case. Jenkins disappeared from his Army unit near Korea's demilitarized zone in 1965. He later appeared in North Korean propaganda films and lived in the reclusive Communist country for nearly four decades.
While living in North Korea, Jenkins married a Japanese woman, Hitomi Soga, who was one of at least 15 Japanese citizens abducted to help train North Korean spies. Together, they had two daughters.
In 2002, she returned to Japan as part of a program to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. Jenkins, fearing arrest and extradition to the United States, did not join his wife in her homeland.
But in early July, Jenkins left North Korea for medical treatment in Indonesia -- a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States -- where he was reunited with his family.
They later returned to Japan where he underwent surgery.
The Japanese and America governments have been discussing how to handle Jenkins case. Earlier this month, he announced that he would surrender to military authorities to "face the charges that have been filed against me."
Listed as a defector by the military, Jenkins could face up to life in prison if convicted.
Friday, September 10, 2004 Posted: 10:21 PM EDT (0221 GMT)
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- A one-time U.S. Army sergeant accused of defecting to North Korea 39 years ago has voluntarily turned himself in at a military base in Japan. Charles Robert Jenkins, 65, saluted the provost marshal, Lt. Col. Paul Nigeara, when he arrived at Camp Zama, accompanied by his wife and two daughters. Nigeara returned the salute.
Army officials planned to hold a news conference Saturday afternoon offering more details about Jenkins' case. Jenkins disappeared from his Army unit near Korea's demilitarized zone in 1965. He later appeared in North Korean propaganda films and lived in the reclusive Communist country for nearly four decades.
While living in North Korea, Jenkins married a Japanese woman, Hitomi Soga, who was one of at least 15 Japanese citizens abducted to help train North Korean spies. Together, they had two daughters.
In 2002, she returned to Japan as part of a program to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. Jenkins, fearing arrest and extradition to the United States, did not join his wife in her homeland.
But in early July, Jenkins left North Korea for medical treatment in Indonesia -- a country that has no extradition treaty with the United States -- where he was reunited with his family.
They later returned to Japan where he underwent surgery.
The Japanese and America governments have been discussing how to handle Jenkins case. Earlier this month, he announced that he would surrender to military authorities to "face the charges that have been filed against me."
Listed as a defector by the military, Jenkins could face up to life in prison if convicted.