The strange journey of Sgt. Jenkins

"He needs treatment, and he needs to focus on getting better," said Kyoko Nakayama, an activist on behalf of the abductees, to reporters in Toyko Sunday. "Even after that, we don't want a timetable for what happens to him."

Koiziumi, in a second meeting in Pyongyang on May 22, passed a note to Jenkins that reportedly gave the American assurance that Japan would not turn him over to the US. The basis for such an assurance is unclear. US officials state unequivocally that technically they have no choice but to ask for Jenkins' return. Under US law he is still absent without leave. Moreover, it is seen by some in the White House as a political hot potato in an election year with troops deployed abroad to signal that desertion is acceptable.

"At the same time, we understand the humanitarian considerations," said one US official source.

Not until Jenkins himself comes forward with his story - and possibly not even then, some Korean experts say - will the truth about his case be known. The man so eager to join the US military that at 15 he lied about his age to enlist, did tell a Japanese magazine reporter more than 35 years later that he had not wanted to fight in Vietnam in 1965.

Some facts in the Jenkins episode are known, others are disputed. It is clear that Jenkins disappeared Jan. 5, 1965. He was patrol leader on a freezing 2 am morning on the DMZ when he told three soldiers behind him to stop advancing, that he heard a noise and was going to check. He never returned. Three weeks later, Jenkins' voice was heard on the giant loudspeaker network that broadcasts across the DMZ, according to an account in Asia Times authored by J. Sean Curtin. Jenkins later starred as ghoulish US officials in North Korean films, such as one called "Nameless Heroes."

The US military determined shortly after Jenkins' disappearance that he defected or deserted. Three letters allegedly left behind in his locker are key to the case. Jenkins' relatives point out in homespun testimony on a website devoted to Jenkins that US officials no longer have the evidence of the letters, in which he addresses his "mother" and signs his name "Charles." He used the expression "mama" and signed his name "Robert," according to his family.

North Korean experts say Jenkins was living in a society whose reward system and survival would hinge directly on the fealty shown to the Kim dynasty.

One ironic backdrop to the Jenkins story in Tokyo is a long-standing dispute between the US military and the Japanese justice system over the status and rights of US servicemen accused of serious crimes. The Koizumi administration has requested leniency and special consideration to Jenkins. Yet it has been unwilling for many years to agree to allow ordinary US soldiers, sent to serve abroad, any guarantees of basic legal rights common to the US and British systems, if they are brought to justice in Japan, sources say.

• Bennett Richardson in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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