Former American soldier who defected to North Korea dies in Japan at 77
An American army deserter who defected to North Korea and married a Japanese woman who had been abducted has died.
Charles Jenkins, from Rich Square, North Carolina, disappeared in January 1965 while on patrol along the demilitarised zone dividing North and South Korea.
He later called his desertion a mistake that led to decades of deprivation and hardship in communist North Korea.
But he met his wife Hitomi Soga there and they had two daughters, Mika and Brinda. Ms Soga had been kidnapped from Japan in 1978, one of at least 13 Japanese citizens who were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s and taken to North Korea to teach Japanese culture and language to its spies.
North Korea acknowledged the abductions and allowed Ms Soga and four others to visit Japan in 2002. She stayed on and two years later, Jenkins followed with their daughters.
In Japan, Jenkins was court-martialled. He said he had deserted because he was afraid of being sent to fight in Vietnam. He pleaded guilty to desertion and aiding the enemy and was dishonourably discharged and sentenced to 25 days in a US military jail in Japan.
Jenkins and his family lived in Ms Soga’s hometown of Sado, in northern Japan, where he was a popular worker at a local souvenir shop and could often be seen posing for photos with tourists.
In his 2005 autobiography,
To Tell the Truth, and at conferences on North Korean human rights, Jenkins revealed he had seen other American deserters living with women abducted from elsewhere, including Thailand and Romania.
He was found collapsed outside his home on Monday and taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead. He was 77.
After settling in Japan, Jenkins visited North Carolina to see his mother and sister.
Jenkins said he had seen other American deserters living with women abducted from elsewhere