Jenkins Arrives In Japan

Charles Jenkins, a runaway soldier from the U.S Forces in Korea, and husband of Hitomi Soga (45), who was kidnapped by the North, entered Japan with his two daughters and wife to receive medical treatment.

Jenkins arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on a plane chartered by the Japanese government from Jakarta, Indonesia, and was taken directly to the hospital.

Hiroyuki Hosoda, Chief Cabinet Secretary, reported that according to a Japanese medical team dispatched to Jakarta, it is possible that Jenkins’s stomach, which had been operated on in North Korea last April, is infected and that other internal organs might also have diseases.

Soga and her two daughters are also scheduled to stay in the hospital for a while.

The Japanese government has negotiated with the U.S. about the handover of Jenkins, and it said that Jenkins wouldn’t be handed over until at least the period of medical treatment ends.

Howard Baker, the U.S ambassador to Japan, met senators of the Liberal Democratic Party and suggested a plea bargain which would decrease Jenkins’s penalty if he admits his charge of desertion.

The Japanese press is forecasting that although Jenkins might be prosecuted, it is not very likely that Jenkins will be imprisoned. Jenkins showed his idea of going to Japan regardless of his prosecution by the U.S by saying: “I know the dangers when I go to Japan,” in his conversation with Megawati Sukarnoputri, the president of Indonesia. He crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into North Korea while patrolling the DMZ in 1965 and married Soga, who was abducted by the North. Later, he stayed in North Korea with his two daughters when Soga returned to Japan, and has met his wife again on July 9 with the help from the Japanese government in Indonesia, which didn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com