Jenkins GUILTY of "teaching North Koreans English"

[kurohinge1]

... Figurines of former US army deserter Charles Jenkins, his Japanese wife and abductee by North Korean agents, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
Photo: AFP

[Captain Japan]

Jenkins due to fly to U.S. to visit mom next week
Japan Times

Charles Jenkins, the former U.S. Army sergeant who deserted to North Korea during the Cold War and now lives in Japan, will visit the United States with his family, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
Jenkins plans to visit the United States with his wife, Hitomi Soga, a former abductee repatriated from North Korea, and their two daughters to see his mother, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiken Sugiura told a news conference.

People close to Soga said the family may leave Tuesday, but Sugiura did not confirm the departure date and said the trip is private.

The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a passport to Jenkins in May....more...

[Taro Toporific]

Check out the pot belly that Charlie Jenkins has. He must have been trying to keep up with his ever expanding Japanese wife. The Jenkins has to live on Sado Island and count his money from his book contract---that's great for a guy who has trouble reading to be writing an autobiography.

Deserter arrives for first U.S. visit in 40 years
CNN.com, June 14
Jenkins arrived at Dulles International Airport here en route to North Carolina, where he planned to see his ailing 91-year-old mother. He was accompanied by his Japanese wife and two daughters.
On arrival, Jenkins and his family were whisked away by police, who tried to keep the news media away from him. Jenkins initially declined to speak to reporters, saying he was under contract, though he did not elaborate....more...

[canman]

That the average American is not letting him off the hook so easily. I was watching CNN and a lot of Veterans were quite pissed about him coming home, and the fact that he wasn't really punished for his misdeeds.

[GuyJean]

That the average American is not letting him off the hook so easily..

The average American is turning out to be an ignorant fuck. Who cares what they think..

Well, I.... Yeah! Fuck them! (conflicts of a patriotic pessimist)

GJ

[canman]

GJ is that at least some people in the States haven't been fooled into thinking that Jenkins is some kind of hero, as the Japanese do. I mean come on what did this old fart do. He deserted the army, made propagand films, lived as high a life as possible in North Korea. Fianlly comes to Japan, gets a heroes welcome, and is now writing a book which will be mandatory reading for all right wing people.

[cstaylor]

lived as high a life as possible in North Korea.

That's right, which is why he was sentenced to 30 days + time served.

[cstaylor]

The average American is turning out to be an ignorant fuck. Who cares what they think..

Ain't that the truth. As P.T. Barnum put it, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people", although I would probably replace "ignorance" instead of "intelligence", since I doubt the engines are faulty, they're just running on cheap gas like "American Idol" and "Who want to marry a millionaire"

[GuyJean]

I mean come on what did this old fart do.

Um. Lived the life of a probable best selling book and blockbuster movie.. Can't say I have.

He deserted the army,

Or was obducted.. Of course, North Korea doesn't do things like that.

made propagand films,

Or was forced to..

lived as high a life as possible in North Korea.

You're joking right? You'd trade your life now for the 'high life' in North Korea? I heard it's great during ski season. ] It's official: Jenkins is faking & crazy[/url]

GJ

[homesweethome]

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/2503101p-8907639c.html

He was accompanied on the North Carolina trip by Jim Frederick, a Tokyo-based Time magazine writer who is helping Jenkins with his autobiography.

So Mr. Jenkins is writing a book about his life in North Korea, or actually Mr. Frederick is writing it. Well, if I was a military veteran of any country I would be spitting fire. I am sure anybody who served there country, didn't desert, and came back to try to continue with there life, would like to shoot Mr. Jenkins who now seems to be cashing in on his misbegotten fame. I wonder how many military veterans who honorably served their countries found help in writing their biographies. I don't deny that Mr. Jenkins deserves to live quietly with his family on Sado Island for the rest of his life if he so chooses, but a book about his exploits? Give me a break, Walking across the DMZ in the middle of the night in a drunken stupor? This reminds me of the story of the urban legend who tied 27 helium filled weather balloons to his lawn chair and impaled himself on electric power lines. Or the guy who stuck a lighted match down a fuel tank to see if there was any gas left in it.

I am sure this is a feather in the cap of Mr. Frederick to be able to write Mr. Jenkins story. Mr. Frederick said "Nobody knows the real Robert Jenkins" which I guess Mr. Frederick (who has moved to Sado to write it) will illuminate us on. I am sure many people in Japan will be interested in knowing about how Mr. Jenkins was able to grow vegetables to supplement his diet while he was teaching North Korean soldiers how to speak English so they could better interrogate their prisoners. However, I think I will join the angry veterans and resist the temptation to get to know the 'real' RJ.

[Blah Pete]

The guy is a serious alky. Don't think his liver will hold out long enough to spend any of the book profits.
It will be nice that his daughters will some some money for mental therapy and enough for transportation to a country that has mental health services.

[L S]

I still look at Jenkins as a truly tragic character from some Shakesperean story. To be angry at him is a waste of energy. To hate him is, in my opinion, not very compassionate. The man made a BAD decision and suffered the has suffred the consequences for the greater part of his life. He will go to the grave with that.

I have no problem with a book being written either. I would at least be interested in hearing about it if not actually reading it...assumign it is written well...(Ryan can this guy write a good book?). I hope it is brutally honest and insightful into Jenkins mind as he realized what he had done. It is certainly more interesting to me than the most non-fiction trash politcal books these days that seem to be selling well in the US. This a real personal tradegy set in a crucial historical setting with mental torment, suffering, love and regret. I predict a movie after he dies.

[homesweethome]

I predict a movie after he dies.

No doubt about it. A 52 minute Fox Docu-Drama titled: 'Why My Mama Doesn't Love Me Anymore.'

Anger towards Mr. Jenkins is a waste of stress hormones, I agree; however what bothers me is the 'bitchin wave' Mr. Fredericks is riding. "He is the one I trust the most" quote CRJ. Is that all it takes?, just suck up enough to whoever happens to be unfortunate or stupid enough in the decisions they make for themselves in life that happen to end up in the papers?

A tragic story? Sure it is, everybody has them. BAD decisions? everybody makes them. Shakespearean?

Mr. Jenkins is the REAL victim, I hope he and his family cashes in BIG TIME, along with the heirs of Evil Knevil and Deep Throat.

[Maths Dude]

So he not formally 'discharged' from the army for 40 years right? Does that entitle him to 40 years backpay?

[Blah Pete]

So he not formally 'discharged' from the army for 40 years right? Does that entitle him to 40 years backpay? Confused

Military justice usually includes forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
If he could have convinced the court that he was abducted by the NK then he would have probably got back pay.

[Marvin Feltcher]

Ryan can this guy write a good book?

Jim Frederick will write a brilliant book. He's a blue-ribbon journalist.
Jim's a real good guy. But, even better, he's a magnificent writer with a great story to tell whatever side of the argument you may be on. I'm guessing he'll be fairly sympathetic, but it's in his instincts to be objective, so it will all depend on how much Jenkins is willing to have known.

[L S]

Deserter apologizes for defecting to North Korea

"I let my soldiers down. I let the U.S. Army down. I let the government down, and I made it very difficult for my family in the United States to live," Jenkins said.

Full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/21/deserter.returns.ap/index.html

[homesweethome]

Third and Fourth Generation Koreans in Japan

"I was forced to come here, and I am sorry for my country and my family who's life was made difficult by powers that I had no control over.

I am sorry."

HSH wrote:

Remember, these are folks just like Soga (who married Jenkins) who didn't have any choice in the matter. They just had to try to make the best of a bad situation.

Mr. Fredricks, why don't you write something of their story?

The answer is: because nobody wants to listen.

[homesweethome]

The law: Everythin existing on the physical plane is an exteriorization of a thought, which must be balanced through the one who issued the thought. (Percival)

I am the law

Judge Dredd

[AssKissinger]

Jenkins is not a puppet for Japan and doesn't teach eikaiwa. A gaijin miracle and an inspiration to us all.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/12188833.htm

Korean leader Kim Jong Il has called him a Japanese propaganda tool.

"That's a lie," he told The Associated Press in a phone call from his adopted home in northern Japan. "I'm not a puppet for Japan."



Jenkins said he has not found a job there yet, but added that he is working on an autobiography.

"Everything's very nice," he said.

I guess he built up a nice pension in NK

[homesweethome]

I vote for this guy to be the poster child for this blog

The Ultimate F*d Gaijin

[Kurofune]

Understatement of the week - Jenkins talking about Kim Jong-il at a Japanese press conference: "He's an evil man. People are being exploited, while he is living a life of luxury."

Not that any of us could fathom the reality of everyday life in North Korea, but I think Jenkins was particularly unequipped for the choice. For his own safety, somebody of his aptitude shouldn't be so close to a place like the DMZ. I'm not saying his actions weren't wrong, but that I can't help feeling sorry for somebody like him walking into a situation like that.

We know Jenkins didn't initiate the book deal. His coming out of NK was a publishing company's wet dream, and they had the red carpet ready. He was presented with the opportunity to bring in money for his family after years of living in squalor (at least by our standards). We're not wrong to be sickened by a crime resulting in a posh book deal, but which one of us would deny our family that payday after seeing them being skin-and-bones all that time?

I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt, but the book can be only so credible because of the author's lack of access to NK sources. Time will tell.

Somebody mentioned the Americans who were there to boo Jenkins. They don't necessarily represent the average American. The media played them up as the voice of the average American because they were the only voice that spiced up the story. We usually see this kind of voice contrasted to the blame-America-first ultralibs, but they didn't come out for this event. The reality is that the average American has a moderate opinion, is waiting for more information, but distrusts the media sources that will deliver the information.

[Greji]

Hey, Y'all shouldn't be so hard on a good ole boy!

He's no longer a celebrity. He's just an ole country boy trying to make his way up in that thar cold ole island, Sado Maso something.

He opened his new place just the other day!

[homesweethome]

Kurofune:

Time will tell.

My, you put it so perfectly. And how many years has Mr. Fredericks lived in the DPRK to be able to bring us this insight?

Not that I underestimate him. I just think the money rules this story. I hope the right people get it.

[homesweethome]

One night I'd had a few, I was out on patrol, I got away from my unit, I don't know what happened, I was waundering around for what seemed like hours. I must have crossed over into the DM(twilight)Z . All at once I was blinded by a brilliant light an the next thing I knew I was aboard this here space craft with this family and we was headin for Alpha Century 21. I didn't know where that was but it sounded better'n Vietnam. I didn't have any complaints cause there was a sweet young thing aboard, the girls weren't bad looking either, and boy could that robot cook. Better'n anything I was used to back in o'l Korea.

Then one of them things happen'd. The whole crew except'n me was kidnapped by a Klingon raid'n party. I hid from em and they never caught me. When I came out o my hide'n place, I was the only one aboard and I flew around in outer space for the last 40 years.

Finally I found my way back to earth and ended up here on Sado which really isn't much different from being in outer space I guess. Hope y'all believe me.

Buy my biography, comin to a bookstore near ya'all.

[Taro Toporific]

Jenkins memoir goes on sale
JapanToday
Friday, October 7, 2005 at 07:17 JST
TOKYO----A book in which former U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins recounts memories of his decades-long life in North Korea ... went on sale Friday.
In the book titled "To Tell The Truth," the 65-year-old husband of repatriated Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga says he saw several Japanese abductees in North Korea in the 1980s.... Jenkins says in the book, only available in Japanese, that he met abductee Megumi Yokota at a department store in Pyongyang when he went shopping.....

[Mulboyne]

TBS TV news (no link) reports that Jenkins will live in Tokyo on his own for a month in order to get a manual driving licence.

Is he still entitled to use the Sanno Hotel?

Edit: Probably not. Their site gives the following elegibility criteria:

Active duty personnel and/or their dependents
Retirees with military retirement ID cards
(spouses must be accompanied by sponsors)
Reserve component of military
Disabled veterans on DAV ID cards (DD-Form 1173)
DoD civilians stationed in Japan and/or their dependents
DoD civilians from outside Japan on funded or non-funded TDY orders or EML orders to Japan
DoD contractors stationed in Japan and/or their dependents
DoD contractors on official travel orders to Japan
Public Health Service personnel on funded TDY orders to Japan
US Embassy personnel stationed in Japan and/or their dependents
Non-DoD personnel on TDY orders to Japan

[Greji]

[Blah Pete]

He did not get retirement from the military just discharged so he can't use the hotel.

[Taro Toporific]

Kyodo News - Oct. 19 TOKYO
Jenkins attending driving school to get license
Charles Jenkins (65)...practices driving at a driving school in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward on Oct. 19. Jenkins, a former U.S. Army deserter to North Korea, is learning Japanese road signs by using English learning materials. He said he would like to go fishing in his wife's hometown Sado, Niigata, if he obtains a license.