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GI deserter Jenkins free to leave base
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-03 21:39

An American who lived in North Korea for nearly 40 years after deserting his Army post is free to leave the military base where he has been staying since his release from prison last week, a U.S. Army spokesman said Friday.

Charles Robert Jenkins completed processing procedures Thursday night, said Lt. Col. John Amberg.

 

Charles Robert Jenkins, a former U.S. army sergeant who deserted to North Korea four decades ago, will start a new life with his family in his Japanese wife's hometown in the final chapter of one of the Cold War's strangest sagas. Jenkins is shown in a file photo. [Reuters]

"At this time, Pvt. Jenkins and his family are free to depart Camp Zama and go on with their lives," said Amberg.

A U.S. military court sentenced Jenkins to 30 days in jail last month for abandoning his unit to cross into North Korea 39 years ago. The sentence was reduced for good behavior, and he was released on Saturday after serving 25 days.

Jenkins, a native of Rich Square, N.C., said he fled his Army post in South Korea on Jan. 5, 1965, because he feared he would be reassigned to combat in Vietnam. He planned to defect to the Soviet Embassy in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, and eventually make his way back to the United States.

Jenkins told The Associated Press last week that he intends to settle down in Japan with his Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga, and their two daughters, both of whom were born in North Korea. Soga was kidnapped from her Japanese hometown by North Korean agents in 1978, and married Jenkins in the North two years later.

Soga and four other abductees were allowed to return to Japan two years ago after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted his country had kidnapped 13 Japanese citizens to obtain teachers of the Japanese language and customs for its spies.

After a flurry of diplomatic negotiations, Jenkins joined her in July, and turned himself in to U.S. military authorities at Camp Zama, just south of Tokyo, on Sept. 11.

A support group for Soga and other kidnapping victims said Jenkins would probably not leave Camp Zama until next week.

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