39 Years and Counting: Charles R. Jenkins

Tiassa

Tiassa

Let us not launch the boat ...
Valued Senior Member
Source: Reuters
Link: http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CM3VOQN4MR2HGCRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=5654508
Title: "Ex-US Soldier May Get Medical Care in Japan - Media"
Date: July 13, 2004

Media reports from Japan suggest that government officials are exploring ways in which Charles Robert Jenkins, a former US soldier charged with desertion, might receive medical treatment at least in Japan, Reuters reports.

Jenkins, a 64-year-old North Carolina native, was reunited with his Japanese wife in Indonesia last week after spending four decades in the reclusive communist state.

Jenkins met and married his wife, Hitomi Soga, in North Korea after she was kidnapped by Pyongyang's agents in 1978.

Soga was repatriated with four other abductees in 2002, but she had to leave Jenkins and the couple's two North Korean-born daughters behind in the communist state.

Jenkins is believed to want to go to Japan, but fears being handed over to U.S. authorities for court martial if he does.

Unlike Japan, Indonesia has no extradition treaty with the United States.

Kyodo news agency, quoting Japanese government sources, said Tokyo had asked Jenkins to consider coming to Japan to be hospitalized for a medical checkup.

Public broadcaster NHK said depending on the results of a medical exam in Jakarta, Jenkins might come to Japan soon, and other TV channels said he might arrive in Japan Thursday.

In Jakarta, Japanese embassy spokesman Shigeru Matsuda told reporters: "Jenkins will travel to Japan if there is a security guarantee."

A U.S. embassy spokesman in Tokyo, however, said Jenkins would likely face charges if he came to Japan.

"Sergeant Jenkins is charged with serious crimes including desertion and those are still considered to be valid so he would be prosecuted," the U.S. embassy spokesman said.

Source: Reuters
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Comment

It's clear that Sergeant Jenkins, in walking away from his unit and finding a home in North Korea, also walked away from his home in the US. As far as I can tell from following the recent press about him, he seems comfortable with that. But I mean, really ... it's medical attention at this point.

It's thirty-nine years later. In an era when our President defends "family values," perhaps our government ought to put aside its grudge and give Japan a nod to go ahead and be civilized without fear of American extradition demands.
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See Also:

• Buckley, Sarah. "North Korea's mystery guest." BBC News Online, July 8, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3753967.stm
• "In pictures: Family reunion." BBC News Online, July 9, 2004. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/3881075.stm
 
What would be the purpose of punishing the man at this point? It would not affect other people who were considering deserting and I really do not think he would desert ever again. Besides it is kind of romantic that a man would give up his entire world for the love of a woman that is to rare a flower to be casually destroyed.
 
Any fool who breaks the law for a fleeting passion needs to be locked up and have the key thrown away.

I can only smile at a government which relents in the law. Aside from shaming the name of Orwell, such weakness in relenting gives rise to other ideas.

If he was able to do it, I can do it too.
 
Sorry SS, is the foolish fleeting passion you were referring to having loyalty to ones nation over the people you love?
 
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