U.S. deserter wants wife to return to North Korea

MANO, Japan -- An alleged U.S. Army deserter, whose Japanese wife was abducted decades ago to North Korea by communist spies, pleaded Thursday for Tokyo to end her visit with long-lost Japanese relatives and send her "home" to North Korea.

The appeal came in a rare interview with Charles Robert Jenkins, who married abductee Hitomi Soga in North Korea in 1980. It was published in the weekly Japanese news magazine Shukan Kinyobi.

"All I want now is for my wife to come home," Jenkins told the magazine in an advanced copy of today's issue. "I have been living happily in North Korea for 37 years. This is the first time things have been painful for me."

Soga is among five of the only known survivors of 13 Japanese that North Korea admits kidnapping in the 1970s and early '80s to use as language teachers.

The five returned to their homeland Oct. 15. But what was expected to be a two-week visit with relatives has turned into a tug-of-war between Japan and North Korea -- with Soga and the others in the middle.

North Korea demands their immediate return. But Japan refuses to send them until the abductees' children -- and in Soga's case, her husband -- are allowed to visit Japan so the families can decide where they want to live permanently.

Thursday marks a month, with neither country caving in.

The two sides are using the returnees as bargaining chips in Japanese-North Korean security talks being held in conjunction with efforts to normalize diplomatic relations between the estranged neighbors. The talks were expected to focus on such issues as North Korea's missile tests.

Japan has said it will not proceed with talks or economic aid until families are allowed to visit the returnees. North Korea countered Thursday that it would suspend the talks indefinitely Tokyo does not send the five back.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi dismissed the warning, saying: "As decided, we won't send them back."

In the article, Jenkins said his family lives a comfortable life in North Korea, where he and Soga have two teenage daughters, Mika and Belinda. But he also indicated he doesn't want to leave North Korea for fear of being prosecuted on desertion charges.

The interview was conducted Sunday in a hotel in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, and a copy of the magazine was hand-delivered to Soga early Thursday. After reading the article, she canceled the day's planned news conference.

"Soga was lying face down, crying, when I arrived at her house," said Junji Kimijima, a spokesman for the village office in Soga's hometown of Mano.

Jenkins, of Rich Square, N.C., allegedly deserted his army post in South Korea and defected to the communists in 1965. If sent to Japan to be with his wife, he could face extradition to the United States, where a conviction on charges of peacetime desertion carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Tokyo is asking Washington to pardon Jenkins but has not yet received a reply.

In the article, Jenkins refused to say how he ended up in North Korea -- other than to say "I walked" -- but suggested that he does not want to expose himself to prosecution.

"Right now I am living freely in North Korea," Jenkins was quoted as saying. "It's better for me to die if my wife doesn't come home."

He referred to himself as a "North Korean citizen" and heaped praise on the communist regime's leader, Kim Jong Il, for affording the family a good life.

"Thanks to Kim Jong Il, our daughters can study at school. We received a car from the state. We have everything we need," Jenkins said. "All I want is return of my wife."

Jenkins added that their daughter Mika doesn't want to live in Japan and quoted her as saying: "Once my mom's back, we can go to Japan on holiday."

Together, the five returnees have seven children in the North. All returnees have expressed reservations about staying in Japan. Their Japanese relatives say they cannot speak openly because their children are held "hostage."

The return of the abductees was made possible by Kim Jong Il's surprise confession about their kidnapping in September.