WASHINGTON – The United States may be willing to defer prosecution of a former U.S. soldier accused of defecting to North Korea nearly 40 years ago but is not willing to give up on seeking his return from Japan to face charges, the State Department spokesman said Monday.
Charles Jenkins, 64, was to undergo testing today to determine how he should be treated, a hospital official said. The Japanese government says Jenkins suffers from after-effects of abdominal surgery he received in North Korea and needs urgent care.
Jenkins, who disappeared near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea in 1965, arrived in Japan on Sunday with his Japanese wife and their North Korea-born daughters.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said “we are considerate of the humanitarian situation” and of Jenkins’ medical condition. So, Boucher said, “while we do expect to present a legal request for custody at the appropriate time, we won’t be doing that right away.”
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had lobbied hard for him to come to Japan amid an outpouring of public sympathy for his wife and her plight as a former victim of kidnapping by the North Korean state.
His wife, Hitomi Soga, 45, was abducted from her hometown on the small island of Sado in the Sea of Japan in 1978 and taken to the North to teach Japanese to communist spies. She lived for 24 years in the North, where she met and married Jenkins.
Pyongyang allowed her to return to Japan two years ago, but she had to leave Jenkins and their two daughters behind because of the extradition treaty Japan has with the United States.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
