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.