| Page 5 of 5 < |
American Freed by N. Korea Relishes Celebrity in Japan
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Still, Jenkins declined, fearing that North Korea would not let him go. He also worried that, if he were allowed to leave, he would be punished harshly for desertion by the U.S. government and sent to jail for many years.
Finally, a compromise was reached. Jenkins and his daughters traveled to Indonesia, where they were reunited with Soga. Within minutes, she persuaded Jenkins to come home with her.
After a stint in a Japanese hospital, where doctors sorted out a prostate operation that had been bungled in North Korea, Jenkins put on a uniform and surrendered to U.S. authorities -- in front of a pack of TV cameras. He was, he said, the longest missing deserter ever to return to the U.S. Army. (Back in North Korea, one U.S. deserter is still believed to be alive; two others are dead.)
Jenkins faced a court-martial for desertion, aiding the enemy, soliciting others to desert and encouraging disloyalty. But the Army was lenient with him, sentencing him to 30 days in the brig. He got out five days early for good behavior.
A Life to Savor
Here on Sado Island, Jenkins and his wife recently finished rebuilding their house. His daughters live nearby. Now in their 20s, one is studying to be a kindergarten teacher, the other wants to be a wedding planner.
When he left North Korea, Jenkins weighed 105 pounds and had a gut full of infection from the botched prostate operation. Now he weighs 150 pounds -- and his tummy is rounded from the Japanese food that he loves.
He hasn't learned to speak much Japanese and says he probably never will. He speaks Korean with his wife and daughters -- and still dreams in Korean, sometimes about that bad old past.
He owns two motorcycles and rides one to work in good weather. His job at the cookie shop pays him about $48,000 a year, the highest salary of his life. He has won two certificates of recognition from local groups for being a tourist magnet on Sado Island.
With money from his book, he and his family have flown home to North Carolina to see relatives. He has been invited to Thailand to speak on human rights.
Over the past four decades, Jenkins said, he has often asked himself whether walking across the DMZ was truly the dumbest thing he had ever done.
Back in North Korea, the answer was always yes. But in Japan, with a family that he loves and a middle-class life that he relishes, he thinks not.
"I don't know if I'd of had a wife as good as I got," he said. "I wouldn't have had my daughters."
