The Jenkins family to see dream come true in Jakarta
The Jenkins family to see dream come true in Jakarta
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta
The administration of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi,
who will face an upper house election on Sunday, has chartered a
special plane to fly U.S. Army sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins --
who Washington says is a deserter -- and his two daughters from
Pyongyang to Jakarta on Friday, to reunite with his Japanese wife
Hitomi Soga.
Soga is scheduled to arrive on Thursday from Japan and the
reunion will take place at the Intercontinental Midplaza Hotel in
Central Jakarta, where Soga will stay.
She was separated from Jenkins -- whom she married in 1980 --
and their two daughters Mika, 21, and Belinda, 18, in 2002.
Soga was abducted to North Korea at the age of 19 on her way
home from shopping with her mother on Sado island, Japan. Her
plight has mesmerized the Japanese public.
Koizumi succeeded in persuading North Korean leader Kim Jong-
ill to release her and other Japanese citizens in May this year.
"I can't wait to see my family before me, and give them a big
hug," Soga told a nationally televised news conference from her
hometown of Mano, northern Japan, as quoted by the Associated
Press.
Her 64-year-old husband turned down Koizumi's offer in May to
go to Japan, fearing that he would be handed over to the U.S.
military for court martial. U.S. President George Bush turned
down Koizumi's request for special treatment for Jenkins, whom
the U.S. says defected while on patrol in the Demilitarized Zone
between North and South Korea in 1965.
"I strongly feel that I want the four of us to live together
in Japan at the very end," Soga said.
Japan and North Korea decided upon the family reunion in
Jakarta as Indonesia and the United States do not have an
extradition treaty. During her visit to Jakarta last week,
foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi disclosed that Jenkins wished
to celebrate Belinda's 19th birthday on July 23. It is still
unclear how long the family will stay in Indonesia and where they
will go next.
"They (Japan) formally asked us to host the reunion, and we
decided to do it based on humanitarian reasons," foreign minister
Hassan Wirayuda told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Koizumi said, "I'm happy for her. We ... will keep making
efforts so that she and her family can live in Japan."
His spokesman, Hiroyuki Hosoda, strongly denied allegations
that the government had dramatized the reunion to boost the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party's chances on Sunday.
"This is a humanitarian issue, not a political one," he said.