Charles Jenkins profiled in Washington Post

[gkanai]

American Freed by N. Korea Relishes Celebrity in Japan

American Freed by N. Korea Relishes Celebrity in Japan

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, April 6, 2008; A01

SADO ISLAND, Japan -- Charles Robert Jenkins was planning a trip to the United States this spring to do "Larry King Live" and promote his book, but the tourist season on Sado Island is heating up.

So Jenkins decided to stay home, sell cookies and sign autographs. At 68, the former U.S. Army sergeant who defected to North Korea and lived as a captive in the curtained-off communist state for 40 years is a celebrity in Japan.

His Stalinist odyssey -- marriage to a Japanese woman who was abducted by North Korea and given to him one evening, her highly publicized release and their eventual reunion -- is household knowledge in this country. An impish man with big ears and a thick North Carolina drawl, he has done as many as 28 interviews in one day with the Japanese media. His autobiography, being published in the United States this spring as "The Reluctant Communist," has sold more than 300,000 copies in hardback in Japan.

"Everyone in Japan knows who I am," he said. "Even young girls come up and want to kiss me. I swear. And take the picture while doing it."

[Taro Toporific]

American Freed by N. Korea Relishes Celebrity in Japan
...Jenkins decided to stay home, sell cookies and sign autographs.....

Jenkins was a squad leader, sergeant, who abandoned his men on a front line post on an active war zone. Despite his traitorous lies, his unit was not reassigned to Viet Nam.
Instead of the death penalty, that sack-o-shit got a Japanese permanent visa (illegally issued in less than 2 years) and Japanese social security retirement pension of 400,000yen/month without working a day in Japan.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Jenkins was a squad leader, sergeant, who abandoned his men on a front line post on an active war zone. Despite his traitorous lies, his unit was not reassigned to Viet Nam.
Instead of the death penalty, that sack-o-shit got a Japanese permanent visa (illegally issued in less than 2 years) and Japanese social security retirement pension of 400,000yen/month without working a day in Japan.

Can anyone explain why it is that the Japanese have treated this douche bag so well?

[G Wiz]

Can anyone explain why it is that the Japanese have treated this douche bag so well?

It's an excellent question, especially considering the Korean war was strongly supported by the UN and even Japan. What position might Japan be in today if Jenkin's buddies had won? Strange.

Also, whats with calling the book "The Reluctant Communist"?

p.s.

Been browsing this site for years and I love it.

[amdg]

Can anyone explain why it is that the Japanese have treated this douche bag so well?

I don't know - I wonder if he has any information they might find useful?

[kamome]

Perhaps they're doing it to honor the wishes of his wife, the ex-kidnappee, who they're happy to have back on Chrysanthemum soil?

[Western All Stars]

An impish man with big ears and a thick North Carolina drawl, he has done as many as 28 interviews in one day with the Japanese media...

Wow that's some fine journalism.

[Greji]

Perhaps they're doing it to honor the wishes of his wife, the ex-kidnappee, who they're happy to have back on Chrysanthemum soil?

I think he posts under the name of Take something.....

[Greji]

Jenkins was a squad leader, sergeant, who abandoned his men on a front line post on an active war zone. Despite his traitorous lies, his unit was not reassigned to Viet Nam.
Instead of the death penalty, that sack-o-shit got a Japanese permanent visa (illegally issued in less than 2 years) and Japanese social security retirement pension of 400,000yen/month without working a day in Japan.

It is also interesting to note that they refer to him as "Freed" by the NKs! During his holiday in the wonderful People's Republic, friend Jenkins appeared in numerous anti-American films and TVs propaganda spots. He taught English to members of the Socialists Workers Party (which contains the NK spy organ) and generally did all the usual things you would expect a good American to do abroad.

It was stated that he was facing punishment for other offenses and drinking prior to his defection (in all fairness, these allegations were made by his previous Commander and Senior NCOs who may well have been covering their own ass for his defection on their watch). However, Vietnam for members of the 2nd Infantry Division at that time was a non-player. Since the anti-war left likes that kind of a love story, it gives him a bit of a following among the uninformed.

As posted before herein, he made a deal that he and his wife would fully cooperate and be debriefed by US Forces Personnel. He would then be allowed to enter a guilty plea (meaning to not contest charges) and he would in turn receive reduced charges at Courts Martial with a minimum sentence (30 days and a DD). The US Ambassador allowed him to be issued, and retain a US Passport (individuals having received Dishonorable Discharges from the military are ineligible for a passport).

His star status is simply from his wife. He's the turd in the punchbowl at anybody else's party.

[ttjereth]

It is also interesting to note that they refer to him as "Freed" by the NKs! During his holiday in the wonderful People's Republic, friend Jenkins appeared in numerous anti-American films and TVs propaganda spots. He taught English to members of the Socialists Workers Party (which contains the NK spy organ) and generally did all the usual things you would expect a good American to do abroad.

It was stated that he was facing punishment for other offenses and drinking prior to his defection (in all fairness, these allegations were made by his previous Commander and Senior NCOs who may well have been covering their own ass for his defection on their watch). However, Vietnam for members of the 2nd Infantry Division at that time was a non-player. Since the anti-war left likes that kind of a love story, it gives him a bit of a following among the uninformed.

As posted before herein, he made a deal that he and his wife would fully cooperate and be debriefed by US Forces Personnel. He would then be allowed to enter a guilty plea (meaning to not contest charges) and he would in turn receive reduced charges at Courts Martial with a minimum sentence (30 days and a DD). The US Ambassador allowed him to be issued, and retain a US Passport (individuals having received Dishonorable Discharges from the military are ineligible for a passport).

His star status is simply from his wife. He's the turd in the punchbowl at anybody else's party.

Jenkins still has a U.S. passport?

[Socratesabroad]

Jenkins still has a U.S. passport?

Maybe not for long (though I'd still like to smack the tool at the embassy who gave him a passport in the first place). According to Adamu (translating a TBS story) over at Mutant Frog (mind you, this is dated early 2006):

Jenkins Pulling a Debito!
Looks like he’]intends to apply for Japanese citizenship.[/b]

Regardless of Jenkins' possible worth as an intelligence 'asset,' I side firmly with Taro - the 'sack-o-shit' deserted his men and his country in hostile territory and then spewed propaganda for and helped train the enemy. He disgraced the uniform and all of us who did serve honorably and should have been shot for the traitor he is.
With luck, he'll get Japanese citizenship so the US will never have to see his likes again.

[Greji]

Maybe not for long (though I'd still like to smack the tool at the embassy who gave him a passport in the first place).

The tool was named Howard Baker and it was part of the deal with the J-government. As a deserter the Japanese government was required by treaty to cough up Jenkins to the US the minute they laid their dick-skinners on him. However, do to the desire to make a deal with him for his and his wife's cooperation, the Ambassador sweetened the deal with a passport and the Japanese relegated him to his wife's beautiful home in downtown Sado after he got out of the Yokosuka brig. It's the media that wants to make a hero out of the asswipe.

[Takechanpoo]

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg ... story.html
how many times do they have to abuse him before feel satisfied? eh?

[wagyl]

Nice to see the LA Times recognising his FG status in that URL.

[Coligny]

The guy is not exactly Snowden...

Drunk idiot that got himself up shitcreek because he was fearfull...

It's milking a non story from the get go...

[Taro Toporific]

Jenkins... 'sack-o-shit' deserted his men and his country in hostile territory and then spewed propaganda for and helped train the enemy...

YEAH! Next time I go to Sado Island, I will be sure to make a minor detour to go piss on Jenkins' grave.

Charles Jenkins, husband of Japanese ex-abductee to North Korea Hitomi Soga, dies at 77
The Japan Times / [size=50]KYODO | Dec. 12, 2017 [/size]
Charles Jenkins, husband of former Japanese abductee to North Korea Hitomi Soga, died Monday due to an unknown cause {alcoholism}, sources said Tuesday. He was 77.
More...

Recent (last?) interview fuckwad Jenkins
2017-August-13
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg ... story.html

[matsuki]

Jenkins... 'sack-o-shit' deserted his men and his country in hostile territory and then spewed propaganda for and helped train the enemy...

YEAH! Next time I go to Sado Island, I will be sure to make a minor detour to go piss on Jenkins' grave.

LOL, a real dumbshit to be sure, I think the 40+ years in North Korea was more than enough punishment for his actions though.

[Russell]

Kim ate his testicle...

Torture, brainwashing and movie stardom: The extraordinary life of Charles Jenkins, the US soldier who defected to North Korea

Charles Robert Jenkins endured beatings, hunger, the forced removal of a testicle, and became a North Korean film star by playing a Capitalist baddie in a propaganda film

[...]

Jenkins, whose IQ was way below average according to US military aptitude tests, seems to have hit upon the idea of reaching the safety of the US, via North Korea.

Once he had defected, he ‘reasoned’, he could seek asylum in the Soviet Union’s embassy, thus paving the way for him to be returned to America by the Communist Russians in a Cold War prisoner swap.

“I was not thinking clearly,” he admitted in his memoir The Reluctant Communist, “But at the time my decisions had a logic to them that made my actions seem almost inevitable.”

[...]

He was put to work teaching English at a military school run by the North Korean Communist Party’s Reconnaissance Bureau.

The idea was to teach the North Koreans American pronunciation. It took them until 1985 to realise that Jenkins’ thick Southern accent, which even some Americans would struggle to understand, was hindering, not helping the students.

[...]

One day, he saw dogs digging up a mass grave near his home.

And yet, as a prized propaganda asset, Jenkins knew full well he had it far better than most in the ‘Hermit Kingdom’.

As millions of North Koreans starved to death in the famine of the 1990s, the Jenkins family received rations of rice, soap and clothing.

Even if the rice was crawling with insects, said Jenkins, it was much better than what “the regular Korean” got, which was nothing.

More

Matsuki, still wanna go there for some ice hockey?

[matsuki]

Matsuki, still wanna go there for some ice hockey?

I still wish I did a few years before...but the timing with that last international tournament coincided with all the new missiles being fired off and that alleged poster burglar's death, and then there was the assassination via VX so....was probably a wise decision not to go then.