Hitomi Soga, one of the five known surviving Japanese abductees now back in Japan from North Korea, wants to visit the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to ask the United States not to arrest her American husband as a deserter if he comes to Japan, sources in her hometown said Tuesday.
Soga, 43, on Monday visited the town hall of Mano on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture and told officials she wants to directly make the request on behalf of her husband, Charles Robert Jenkins, a former U.S. Army sergeant listed by the U.S. military as having deserted to North Korea in 1965, the sources said.
Officials of the town plan to convey Soga's intention to the U.S. Embassy shortly, according to the sources.
U.S. officials have said Jenkins, 62, would be arrested and charged with desertion if he comes to Japan.