Korean War deserter may go free, if precedent is any guide

ZAMA, Japan – Desertion is a crime like few others. Along with mutiny, it hits at the heart of military service, violating a fundamental code of honor. But as the U.S. Army prepares to court-martial Sgt. Charles Jenkins in one of its highest-profile desertion cases since Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed in World War II, a little known fact is coming to light.

Serious though it may sound, desertion, especially in peacetime, rarely results in anything more than a dishonorable discharge.

Of the thousands of soldiers who bolt their units each year, only a small percentage are tried, let alone sent to prison. Jenkins, back in uniform nearly 40 years after allegedly defecting to communist North Korea, is accused not only of desertion but of aiding the enemy and urging others to join him. Yet a guilty verdict won’t necessarily mean a prison cell.

The maximum penalty for peacetime desertion is life in prison, while wartime desertion can be punished by death. But that hasn’t happened since Slovik was executed in January 1945 by a firing squad from his own unit in northeast France. Slovik was one of 70 servicemen executed during the war, but the only one shot for desertion – the others were executed for murder or rape.

Jenkins’ case presents a bit of a legal quandary. The Korean War ended in a truce, but not a formal peace, in 1953, 12 years before Jenkins allegedly left his patrol on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone. Army officials say it’s up to the judge, Col. Denise Vowell, to decide whether death or life imprisonment applies.

There are indications Jenkins, whose court martial begins here on Wednesday, has worked out a pretrial agreement, most likely for no confinement in exchange for a guilty plea to at least one of the charges against him. He faces charges of desertion, plus two counts of soliciting other service members to desert, one of aiding the enemy and two of encouraging disloyalty.

But Jenkins has given no interviews since turning himself in, and has never publicly admitted guilt or explained how, or why, he ended up in North Korea to begin with.

“I think there’s room for lots of surprises ahead,” said Annette Eddie-Callagain, a former Air Force lawyer who now has a private practice on the southern Japan island of Okinawa. “I wouldn’t make any assumptions.”

Any prison time for the frail, 64-year-old Jenkins, restricted to the Army base in this Tokyo suburb since surrendering in September, would be unusual.

Lt. Col. John Amberg, spokesman for the U.S. Army in Japan, said 1,631 soldiers were put on desertion status Army-wide from October 200 through June this year. He did not know how many had been arrested, or what the average punishment was.

But a report compiled by the Army Research Institute in 2002 said an “overwhelming majority” of deserters are released with less-than-honorable discharges and never go through the full court-martial process. Of more than 12,000 soldiers who deserted between 1997 and 2001, it said, 94 percent were cashiered in this manner.

Length of time away isn’t always decisive in sentencing.

In January, the Air Force gave a bad conduct discharge to a 43-year-old senior airman who disappeared from Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, in 1981, according to an Air Force Office of Special Investigations public affairs report. Though on the lam for 22 years – and though the punishment was meted out while U.S. soldiers were fighting and dying in Iraq – he was not sent to prison.

But in another high-profile case, National Guard Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, who said he left his unit in Iraq to protest an “oil-driven” war, received one year in prison and a bad-conduct discharge in May for not returning to his Florida unit after a two-week furlough.

Jenkins, raised in poverty in Rich Square, N.C., joined the Army as a teenager and apparently liked it so much he had a pair of rifles tattooed on his arm. In November 1961, after his first tour of duty in Korea, he was given a Good Conduct Award for “exemplary behavior, efficiency and fidelity.”

But according to the Army, Jenkins, by then a sergeant, told the men in his armored-vehicle platoon one night “on or about Jan. 5, 1965” that he was going to check out a suspicious noise near the Demilitarized Zone.

He never came back.

Years later, his voice was broadcast across the DMZ from the North Korean side and he appeared as a villainous American in a propaganda movie before again vanishing behind the high walls of secrecy that guard North Korea’s communist regime. He also married.

Jenkins’ life changed dramatically two years ago, when a diplomatic thaw led to the release of five Japanese who had been abducted to North Korea to train spies in the Japanese language and culture.

One of the five was Hitomi Soga – Jenkins’ wife.

Soga was kidnapped in 1978 along with her mother, who remains unaccounted for. After two years, she began studying English with Jenkins, nearly 20 years her senior. They have two grown daughters, Mika and Brinda.

Aware he might face a court-martial, Jenkins stayed behind as his wife returned for an emotional homecoming in Japan in October 2002.

Following a plea by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Jenkins agreed to be flown to Jakarta, Indonesia, in July so the family could be reunited. Two weeks later, they were all whisked back to Tokyo, ostensibly so Jenkins could be treated for an abdominal disorder.

With his wife and daughters at his side, he turned himself in on Sept. 11.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Employees and patrons of the Everett Mall signed a timeline mural that traces the history of the 51-year-old indoor mall that was once considered the premier place to go shopping in the city. Thursday, March 20, 2025 (Aaron Kennedy / The Herald)
Mall mural offers nostalgic trip into the past

Past and present Everett Mall employees joined customers Thursday to view an artistic timeline of the once popular shopping mecca.

Edmonds Mayor Mike Rosen gives his State of the City address on Thursday, March 20 in Edmonds, Washington. (Will Geschke / The Herald)
Edmonds mayor talks budget at 2025 State of the City

Mayor Mike Rosen discussed the city’s deficit and highlights from his first year in office.

Richie Gabriel, 1, jumps off the bottom of the slide as Matthew Gabriel looks down at him from the play structure at Hummingbird Hill Park on Monday, March 31, 2025 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edmonds residents show up for Hummingbird Hill Park, Frances Anderson Center

After a two-and-a-half hour public comment session, the council tabled its votes for the two comprehensive plan amendments.

Students Haddie Shorb, 9, left, and brother Elden Shorb, 11, right, lead the ground breaking at Jackson Elementary School on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett district breaks ground on Jackson Elementary replacement

The $54 million project will completely replace the aging elementary school. Students are set to move in by the 2026-27 school year.

Logo for news use featuring Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Another positive measles case identified in Snohomish County

The case was identified in an infant who likely contracted measles while traveling, the county health department said.

A Tesla drives along 41st Street on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Washington faces uncertain future of Clean Air Act regulations

The Trump administration’s attempt to roll back numerous vehicle pollution standards has left states wondering what’s next.

A person walks through the lot at Kia of Everett shopping for a car on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘The tariffs made me do it’: Customers move fast on cars

At one Everett dealership, customers move fast on cars ahead of Wednesday’s expected announcement on tariffs.

Public’s help needed to find missing Arlington man

The 21-year-old left the house Sunday night without his shoes, cell phone or a jacket, and was reported missing the following morning.

Will Geschke / The Herald
The Marysville Tulalip Campus on the Tulalip Reservation, where Legacy High School is located.
Marysville board votes to keep Legacy High at current location

The move rolls back a decision the school board made in January to move the alternative high school at the start of next school year.

The former Marysville City Hall building along State Avenue on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
City of Marysville, school board amend property exchange

The city will relocate its public works facility to the district’s current headquarters, which will move to the former City Hall.

Snohomish County Elections employees Alice Salcido, left and Joseph Rzeckowski, right, pull full bins of ballots from the Snohomish County Campus ballot drop box on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County to mail ballots for Edmonds, Brier elections

Registered voters should receive their ballots by April 9 for the April 22 special election.

A stormwater diversion structure which has been given a notice for repairs along a section of the Perrinville Creek north of Stamm Overlook Park that flows into Browns Bay in Edmonds, Washington on Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Edmonds Hearing Examiner decides on Perrinville Creek saga

The examiner revoked the city’s Determination of Non-Significance, forcing Edmonds to address infrastructure issues on the creek

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.