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Diplomatic stalemate for U.S. deserter
From Rebecca MacKinnon
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- North Korea and Japan are locked in a public relations battle over the fate of five Japanese abducted by Pyongyang decades ago to work as Japanese language instructors for North Korean spies. While the five have now returned to Japan, their children all remain behind in North Korea. The case of one abductee, Hitomi Soga has been made even more complicated by the fact that she is married to alleged U.S. army deserter Charles Robert Jenkins, who could face extradition to the U.S. for trial if he goes to Japan. Now North Korea has allowed some Japanese journalists to meet with Jenkins at a hospital in Pyongyang. North Korean authorities claim the 62-year-old Jenkins is hospitalized with fatigue and stress. They say he has fallen ill because his Japanese wife -- who married him after she was abducted to North Korea in 1978 -- remains stuck in Japan and trapped in a three-way diplomatic stalemate. Asked about his health, Jenkins told the Japanese journalists, "Right now [it's] pretty bad. Very bad." Asked to explain, Jenkins said, "I can tell you a little. I think that the doctor can tell you more. Yes I had a heart examination and chest examination. Today I had a kidney examination." Jenkins' doctor said he believed Jenkins' condition was caused by separation from his wife. Even if North Korean authorities allowed him to come to Japan, Jenkins remains a wanted man in the U.S. as a military deserter. The U.S. military has listed Jenkins as a deserter since he disappeared while on patrol along the 38th parallel -- the border between North and South Korea -- in 1965.
But Jenkins' family, which lives in North Carolina in the U.S., contends he was abducted by North Korea to teach English to North Korean spies. Jenkins could face extradition, despite Japan's repeated appeals for Washington to pardon him. Wanted man"He is still characterized as a deserter of the U.S. Army. Our government will proceed according to provisions of the law and how that will finally unfold remains to be seen," said Howard Baker, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. It has now been a month and a half since Soga left North Korea with four other Japanese abductees on what Japanese and North Korean diplomats had agreed would be just a two week visit. But now Japan refuses to return Soga and four other abductees back to North Korea, until North Korea agrees to let them settle permanently in Japan with their families. North Korea for its part refuses to discuss that idea, insisting Tokyo broke its promise. At a recent news conference, reporters were not allowed to ask Soga what she thinks about the U.S. government's position towards her husband. Organizers claimed the question was too sensitive. But Soga did say this: "I think the most important thing is that my family can live together, wherever it is." With no flexibility in Washington, Tokyo, or Pyongyang, the Jenkins family -- created by bizarre cold war circumstances -- could remain separated for quite a long time.
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