The United States has reassigned accused U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins to the U.S. forces based in Japan from South Korea, where he was posted when he apparently defected to North Korea in 1965, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Wednesday.

Speaking at a regular morning news conference, Hosoda said the transfer of duty records took effect July 18, the day the 64-year-old Jenkins came to Tokyo from Jakarta for medical treatment.

Jenkins is wanted by the U.S. military, which maintains that he deserted and defected to North Korea in 1965 while on patrol along the Demilitarized Zone. He later married Hitomi Soga, who was abducted to North Korea from Japan in 1978 by agents of Pyongyang and allowed to return home in 2002.