Associated Press
Japan will urge accused U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins to seek a plea bargain, reports said yesterday, after doctors cleared him of any serious medical condition and chances increased that the United States would make an early request for his hand over.
Jenkins, who is wanted by the United States for allegedly abandoning his post in 1965 and defecting to North Korea, has won the support of the Japanese government because of his ties to Hitomi Soga, his Japanese wife.
Tokyo wants Jenkins to be able to settle in Japan with Soga and their two North Korean-born daughters. Washington has said it plans to pursue its case against Jenkins, who - if convicted of desertion - could face life in prison.
Japanese government officials have decided the best way to keep the family united is to convince Jenkins to enter a plea-bargain instead of fighting the charges, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unnamed sources.
He could get off more lightly if convinced to admit to the allegations and cooperate with U.S. authorities, NHK said.
Kyodo News agency reported that Jenkins had indicated to government officials he was open to a plea-bargain.
Jenkins and Soga met in North Korea after she was kidnapped by Northern agents in 1978. Soga returned to Japan in 2002, but was separated from her family until Tokyo arranged a reunion in Indonesia earlier this month.
The Japanese government said the 64-year-old former army sergeant was suffering from the aftereffects of prostate surgery in North Korea and needed urgent care. It flew Jenkins to Japan last Sunday to be hospitalized immediately, bringing him within reach of U.S. authorities for the first time in 39 years.
Washington has delayed seeking custody of Jenkins, citing humanitarian concerns about his health.
But those concerns dissipated Friday when Japanese doctors treating Jenkins announced he was in relatively sound health.
© 2001-2004 Taiwan News
And.. Nephew of deserter makes vindication his cause
GINNY PARKER, and PHRED DVORAK
The Wall Street Journal
TOKYO -- James Hyman remembers his Uncle Robert as a young man in a green Army uniform about 40 years ago. His uncle took him to Woolworth's to buy a cap gun. The next year, in 1965, Uncle Robert disappeared while patrolling the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Mr. Hyman was told some years later that his uncle, Charles Robert Jenkins, had defected to North Korea. But Mr. Hyman has never believed that. And for much of his adult life, Mr. Hyman, who will be 44 years old on Sunday, has been crusading to find Uncle Robert and to see him again.
Now, Mr. Hyman's goal may be within reach. A bizarre chain of events -- including kidnappings, a cross-cultural marriage and the machinations of a zealous Japanese television network -- have brought uncle and nephew to Tokyo at the same time. Mr. Jenkins, now 64, is in a Tokyo hospital undergoing medical tests for an undisclosed illness. Mr. Hyman, a North Carolina firefighter, came to Tokyo to meet him and to bring a message back to Mr. Jenkins's 91-year-old mother.
Almost a week after arriving in Tokyo, Mr. Hyman is still waiting anxiously for a reunion.
Meeting his uncle, he says, will be the culmination of a lifelong quest that began when he learned about the desertion charges from his father at age 13. He has set up a Web site about his uncle and has undertaken a petition drive seeking clemency. Mr. Hyman and his wife, Shir-Lee, have filled four thick binders with faxes they have sent to lawmakers and others asserting Mr. Jenkins's innocence. "My life is based on finding my uncle," says Mr. Hyman.
The Japanese government has sequestered Mr. Jenkins at the hospital while the U.S. decides when -- and whether -- to pursue a court-martial. Mr. Hyman still doesn't know whether he will get permission to see his uncle; he hopes to hear something today.
Mr. Jenkins has become a pawn in a high-stakes international political game that is being played by Japan, North Korea and the U.S.
Japan is involved because Mr. Jenkins's wife is Hitomi Soga, one of five Japanese abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and freed to return to Japan in 2002. Clemency for Mr. Jenkins could score huge political points for Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, and reduce tensions with North Korea, which allowed Mr. Jenkins to leave Pyongyang.
The U.S., sympathetic to Japan, its important ally, nevertheless can't afford to seem soft on deserters as it takes a tough line on military affairs world-wide and struggles with disciplinary problems in Iraq.
When Mr. Hyman joined the Army at 17, he repeatedly asked for information about his uncle's whereabouts. To record his version of events, he got a tattoo on his left arm that says "Robert Jenkins POW MIA." Mr. Hyman left the Army in 1995, still pushing for news of his uncle.
Things changed dramatically in September 2002. During an unprecedented meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Mr. Kim admitted that his country had abducted 13 Japanese in the late 1970s. Five were still alive, including Hitomi Soga. Mr. Hyman then learned that Ms. Soga had married his uncle in 1980 and had two daughters.
When Ms. Soga and other abductees returned to Japan two years ago, Mr. Hyman contacted her promptly. Hearing she was sick in the hospital, he sent Ms. Soga -- whom he calls "Aunt Hitomi" -- get-well cards, then letters. Ms. Soga wrote back, saying she was eager to meet her mother-in-law in the U.S., and talked about what a good father Mr. Jenkins had been, Mr. Hyman says.
Mr. Hyman also ratcheted up his campaign to get his uncle out of North Korea, devoting his Web site to why he thinks Mr. Jenkins didn't defect and starting his clemency petition drive. He sent President Bush a fax every Friday morning for 10 weeks, claiming that his uncle had been abducted and was not a defector.
Not all of his family shared Mr. Hyman's drive. Mr. Jenkins's sister and half-sister thought all Jenkins-related matters should be left to the U.S. government. Mr. Hyman's Internet bulletin board received searing notes from military personnel -- particularly veterans -- who thought Mr. Jenkins should be put on trial.
In May, Prime Minister Koizumi made a second trip to Pyongyang. He was pushing a popular cause -- to bring back the families of the five Japanese abductees who were left behind. But at that time, Mr. Jenkins refused to come to Japan, for fear that he would be extradited to the U.S.
This month, the Japanese government arranged to have Ms. Soga meet Mr. Jenkins and the daughters in Indonesia, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S. Ms. Soga's tearful reunion with Mr. Jenkins on July 8 at the Jakarta airport was covered by 200 Japanese journalists and was broadcast on Japanese television. Back in North Carolina, Mr. Hyman watched the scene on videotape 15 times, eating pizza and crying.
Things happened quickly after that. On July 16, the Japanese government announced that Mr. Jenkins had abdominal problems that required immediate medical care in Tokyo. The U.S. government said it wouldn't ask Japan for custody of Mr. Jenkins while he was being treated. Nippon Television Network Corp. offered to fly Mr. Hyman and his wife to Tokyo first class -- in exchange for an exclusive interview. Mr. Hyman dropped everything and spent the day shopping for gifts -- including Merle Haggard CDs and a bottle of Old Spice -- for Mr. Jenkins and his family.
Since arriving in Japan, Mr. Hyman has sought permission for a visit from a Japanese government division that assists the North Korean abductees, but he has been told that Mr. Jenkins is unavailable while undergoing medical tests. Mr. Hyman and his wife have whiled away their time in Tokyo visiting temples and museums. They are carrying a borrowed cellphone and are anxiously awaiting a call from Mr. Jenkins.
Mr. Hyman says he still hopes the call -- and a visit -- will come before he's supposed to return home Sunday.
"Don't condemn my uncle until you've walked in his shoes," Mr. Hyman says. "We honestly believe he was abducted."
©2004 Associated Press