Ill Jenkins may be flown to Japan

Ill Jenkins may be flown to Japan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Japanese government is considering sending accused U.S. army
deserter Charles Jenkins to Tokyo for medical treatment, despite
a U.S. warning that he faces prosecution if he travels to Japan.

Jenkins reportedly told Japanese diplomat Akitaka Saiki last
week that he wanted to live in Japan with his wife, Hitomi Soga,
and their two daughters, Mika and Belinda, who have been granted
Japanese citizenship at the request of their mother.

"He has health complications. He needs emergency treatment and
Japan is one possible choice," Japanese sources familiar with the
matter told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Japanese Embassy officials took the 64-year-old Jenkins on
Tuesday to Siloam Gleneagles Hospital in Tangerang, Banten, for a
medical exam after Jenkins complained of "postoperative problems
and chronic disease".

Jenkins underwent surgery in Pyongyang in April for an
undisclosed problem.

The Japanese government flew Jenkins and his daughters from
Pyongyang on Friday for a reunion with Soga, who was just 19
years old when North Korean agents abducted her from Japan in
1978.

Soga and Jenkins, who allegedly deserted to the Stalinist
country in 1965, married in North Korea in 1980.