WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- The United States might delay requesting custody of an alleged U.S. Army deserter now being medically treated in Japan, the U.S. State Department said Monday.
Charles Jenkins arrived in Tokyo Sunday from Indonesia. He is accused of deserting U.S. troops along the demilitarized zone in the Korean Peninsula in 1965 and defecting to North Korea. A sergeant at the time of his alleged desertion, Jenkins is considered still on active duty as a member of U.S. armed forces.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Monday U.S. officials in Tokyo were in touch with Japanese authorities on the issue.
"Our ambassador ... explained that the United States will request custody of Sergeant Jenkins at the appropriate time, but he also acknowledged that we might delay the request because of Sergeant Jenkins' medical condition," he said.
Jenkins is married to a Japanese woman, Hitomi Soga, who was kidnapped by North Korea in 1978. Soga returned to Japan along with other Japanese abduction victims in October 2002. The family was reunited in Jakarta.
