N. Korea defector suspect gives up

The sergeant is accused of deserting his unit and living in the north.
CAMP ZAMA, Japan (AP) -- Forty years after reportedly defecting to North Korea, a frail Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins reported to duty in Japan on Saturday, giving a simple salute to an Army marshal and surrendering to U.S. authorities.
Jenkins' voluntary surrender caps months of negotiations between Japan and North Korea and eases a diplomatic headache for Tokyo and Washington.
But questions remain over how Jenkins left his unit and how deeply involved he was in the secretive North's espionage activities.
Accompanied by his wife and their two North Korea-born daughters, the diminutive, suit-clad 64-year-old turned himself in at the gate of the Camp Zama Army base with a salute to the base provost marshal -- the military equivalent of a police chief.
"Sir, I'm Sgt. Jenkins and I'm reporting," he said.
No handcuffs
Instead of being put in handcuffs, Jenkins was taken to the base personnel office, put in a sergeant's summer dress uniform and given an advance on his pay -- $3,273.36 a month.
Col. John Dykstra, a legal officer, said the Army would conduct an investigation to determine whether to proceed with a court-martial, which would be held at the base. He said the process could take several months.
Until the proceedings begin, Dykstra said, Jenkins is just another sergeant.
"He'll be permitted to move about freely on Camp Zama," Dykstra said. "He can use the bowling facilities, the snack bar, the fishing pond."
Jenkins will not be free to leave, however. He will be restricted to living on base with his family. He was assigned Saturday to an administrative post but was given the weekend off.
The by-the-book treatment of Jenkins marks a sharp contrast with the charges he faces.
What he's accused of
Jenkins is charged with deserting his unit along the Demilitarized Zone in January 1965 and defecting to the North, where he lived for 39 years. He is one of four suspected American deserters the Pentagon had confirmed were in the North. Two have since reportedly died.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Maj. John Amberg, a Zama spokesman, said Jenkins is also charged with two counts of encouraging disloyalty, one of aiding the enemy and two of soliciting others to desert.
While in North Korea, he made propaganda broadcasts, played devilish Americans in anti-U.S. films and taught English at a school for spies. Suspicions have been raised that he might also have been involved in the brutal interrogations of U.S. sailors captured in the 1968 USS Pueblo episode.
Plea bargain
The Rich Square, N.C., native is hoping to strike a plea bargain with military authorities to avert imprisonment. He has met several times in recent weeks with an Army-appointed attorney to prepare his case. The attorney also accompanied Jenkins on Saturday.
Jenkins' wife, Hitomi Soga, made a plea for leniency.
"I expect we have a lot more to face in the days to come," Soga said as she joined Jenkins early Saturday at a Tokyo hospital, where he had been under medical care since coming to Japan in July. "But we hope that the four of us can live together as soon as possible."
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