From AP:
PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korea agreed Saturday to release the family members of Japanese citizens kidnapped by Northern agents, and Tokyo pledged food and humanitarian aid to the impoverished country, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a summit of the nations’ leaders.
Five children of the abductees arrived in Tokyo hours later. They were expected to meet with Koizumi after being reunited with their families.
Among those not coming back, though, is American defector/abductee (who the heck knows which) Charles Jenkins:
American Charles Jenkins, who is accused of deserting his Army unit in 1965 and defecting to the North, refused to leave because of fears of facing prosecution in the United States, Koizumi said. Jenkins is married to one of the kidnapped Japanese who were allowed to return home in 2002, and they have two daughters who also apparently won’t leave.
Given the level of cooperation lately between Washington and Tokyo, I’d be willing to concede to the Japanese by letting the guy come to Japan (but not the United States, unless it turns out that the guy really didn’t defect). Actually, one of the few sensible things Charles Pritchard has said recently is that Jenkins has probably been punished enough just having had to live in North Korea for the last nearly 40 years.
Anyway, there’s a lot more in the AP report, so read it.
19 Comments
It’s been a long time since I have seen him in the news, but that Jenkins guy looks a lot like what I remember Ross Perot looking like.
a
God, I wish the leaders of civilized democracies around the world would stop shaking that man’s hand.
According to the linked AP news article, the people were returned to Japan in exchange for payments in food and medicine. In short, NK is running a kidnapping for random racket, and Japan is paying NK for the hostages. From NK??р꽓s point of view, this is probably not a bad business model. This is madness. Japan’s actions are counterproductive in the long run.
James C.
Hmmm. It looks like Japan may have left themselves a loophole. There are certain conditions for NK to fulfil…… Watch this space.
Civilized democracy? What are they?
The United States is being especially mean in not giving Jenkins an amnesty. It would be nice if that were their public stance while behind closed doors they were making more positive noises, but I doubt it.
D. James Chung, Kim Jong Il never talks for free. Unless you’re the Chinese.
If you’re a civilized democratic country, be prepared to provide payment, err foreign aide.
Kim Jong Il is the only man in the world who views nukes as financial assets.
He’s upset because Clinton babied him and dealt him foreign aide for suspending the nuke program, but Bush wouldn’t.
South Koreans also apparently prefer plastering KJI’s kingdom with money in exchange for less active, covert nuclear weapons development.
Most of the aide goes to where Kim Jong Il sees it fit. People outside of Pyong Yang probably never got any and won’t.
By the way, you only get to live in Pyong Yang if you’re an elite party member.
WJK: D. James Chung, Kim Jong Il never talks for free. Unless you’re the Chinese.
The Chinese are propping his regime up, so they’re hardly getting to talk to him for free.
Zhang Fei, you are absolutely right. Just wondering. Most people like Guan Yu. Any particular reasons for Zhang Fei?
Probably because Zhang Fei was an alcoholic….
It should be apparent that Jenkins deserted. Why a deserter should be given an amnesty at any time, much less in the middle of a war, is beyond me.
The US knows what a big deal it is to Japan, but the DOD won’t budge. They say they have physical evidence in the form of letters (more than one) he left behind.
It also speaks volumes that Prime Minister Koizumi talked with the guy in Pyongyang Saturday for an hour in a private conference and still couldn’t convince him to come to Japan. Koizumi probably gave him all kinds of assurances of help, but he wouldn’t budge.
Now, I’ve heard from semi-knowledgeable sources that Jenkins is, shall we say, not the brightest bulb around, but I think he is smart enough to remember that he left those letters laying around.
Koizumi finally convinced him to take his kids and meet the wife in Beijing, where the US can’t get him.
Apparently, his children of the three families knew the most about their parents’ situation (both that he is a deserter and that she is a Japanese woman who was abducted), yet they say they were raised as North Koreans and they want to stay. Their mother’s been back in Japan for a year and a half now (and gained a lot of weight), and if she can’t convince them how stupid they are (not only for passing up the chance to live outside of NK, but that their options have become even more limited inside NK), then perhaps they should be allowed the luxury(?) of the last free choice they’ll ever get.
There’s quite a bit of anger in Japan at the results of the talks, BTW. The big sticking point is the information that NK provided on the people it says died, or that they claim they don’t know about. The death certificates they provided are bogus, the information borders on the ridiculous, and the bones of one of the victims, a young man, turned out to be those of some old woman.
Koizumi’s side is saying that KJI told them in the meeting that as far as he was concerned, the abduction issue was resolved (!) Koizumi got him to promise to reopen the investigation, this time with Japanese “assistance”. The Japanese are claiming they pressed the issue rather strongly.
It should not be forgotten that the five children of the other two families were still in NK custody, and KJI still held the key at that point.
There is also puzzlement at the brevity of the meeting–just 90 minutes, or about 45 if you factor in interpretation time. Film of the event suggests to some that KJI was going through the motions, almost like reading a script, unlike at the last meeting. Are his hands tied by unseen (military) knots? There have been reports in Japan that the NK army is restless, and been getting away with impertinences.
So why is it so vitally important that Jenkins is not given an amnesty? “Principle”? People are killed for international relations everyday, and nobody cares, and we can’t forgive one guy for the same purpose? Sure, much better to let him remain a playing card for NK.
Convincing people who have been living in NK for all their lives of anything is never going to be easy. Furthermore, we have no idea what the whole story is.
“So why is it so vitally important that Jenkins is not given an amnesty?”
If you can even ask this question, nothing anyone could tell you would help you understand.
“Sure, much better to let him remain a playing card for NK.”
He’s not a playing card for NK. KJI told Koizumi he was leaving it up to Jenkins. Let’s assume that’s the case. (Easy to assume; he’s more a burden to them than an asset.) He’s not a playing card in negotations with the US at all, and since he told Koizumi face to face he didn’t want to go, Koizumi is not going to press the issue any more.
As far as convincing people who’ve lived in NK, the other five children seem to have gotten convinced, and for Jenkins’ two daughters it will be their mother who will be doing the convincing.
“If you can even ask this question, nothing anyone could tell you would help you understand.”
Try me. It would seem that there are no reasons. “He betrayed his country.”?? Give me a break.
Similarly, nothing anyone could ever say could make you understand. To me, “patriot” is a dirty word. One step from nationalism and we all know how much fun that one is.
You seem to be assuming quite a lot incidentally.
She will be doing the convincing will she, the “fat” Soga? Poor Soga has always looked very very distressed. It’s time we just left them all alone. As a family, with Jenkins….But no no no He is deseter! He must pay! But did he harm anyone? No. Only himself. But he is a deserter! He must pay!
Give me Zhou Tai any day….
“It’s time we just left them all alone.”
“We”? Speak for yourself. No one I know is bothering them.
Of course Soga looks distressed. She spent 25 years in hell and her two children are still there, and might not get out because she married a dimwit that she and the children feel loyal to. NK abducted her mother at the same time, but claim the mother never entered NK. She’s also had surgery for early lung cancer since she’s been back.
Interesting story in this AM’s paper, BTW. The five kids that returned had a meeting with Koizumi, too. Koizumi drank some “juice” (could be anything non-alcoholic) during the meeting. Apparently, the kids were offered the same drink later at some point (either at the meeting or back in Japan, the newspaper doesn’t say.) Katsuya Hasuike, of university age, asked his father, “Is it OK to have the same drink Prime Minister Koizumi had?”
His father Kaoru replied, “Japan is that kind of country.”
The experience those five have just embarked upon is beyond the imagination of any one of us.
I’m not sure that living in N. Korea was such a punishment for Jenkins and his kids if they received preferential treatment as valuable language teachers and intelligence sources - considering the North’s limited resources, I’d imagine they needed these people to train English and Japanese speakers - especially since ties with the N. Korean Residents association in Japan have grown weaker and similar groups in the U.S. are miniscule.
I’ve also heard somewhere that Jenkins has only a few years before the statute of limitations expires on his court martial/desertion case. It could be better for everyone if he just waited until then before he came to Japan.
Deflet has interesting views on legality, patriotism, sense of duty, and the military. While he’s entitled to his/her opinions, I’m pretty glad that he’s not Secretary of Defence - or in any position of responsibility, for that matter. And I will have a hard time taking his suggestions on the topic of foreign policy seriously in the future.
WJK: Zhang Fei, you are absolutely right. Just wondering. Most people like Guan Yu. Any particular reasons for Zhang Fei?
Because Zhang Fei (of legend)* was an irascible SOB with an uncontrollable temper and a yen for getting into fights.
* God only knows what he was really like, of course.
I agree that some of my ideas are problematical. I think it is unavoidable that nations will fight for their own interests. In face mations must fiught for their own interests or face being a victim.
Any nation that does not instill some idea of patriotism or pride in their own citizens may face domestic problems (keeping the nation together) or international problems (not being able to face up to groups with a stronger sense of self interest).
While all this is just the way things are, the trick is to minimize the damage to human life. The problem comes when those in power place what they believe to be their own benefit (or that of their nation) well above human costs.
We can all sit back and theorize on IR, but then, I think very few of us suffer an air strike during our weddings.
The problem with law and abstract ideas that help the world function is that people tend to forget that they are artificial constructions serving some material purpose. When they start to cause harm is when they should be adjusted. And I agree that they should be adjusted quietly, so the masses (and their opium) are not unduly disturbed. There are apparently a quite a number of ex-defectors back in the USliving quietly.
Another example: the Japanese gov had for some years been quietly repatriating Japanese from North Korea who had managed to China. Then the media found out and made it an issue. The public certainly has a right to know AND the gov needs to do what it sees as best. There are no rigt answers of course.
Incidentally, I think that BS and I probably agree on more than we disagree on.
Fight for your country and love your country, sure, just try to understand where the ideas come from and how they are used. Looking deeply and objectively into these matters can be painful and worrying, but it is certainly better than knee-jerk reactions that we intellectual types (that was sarcasm, incidentally, if you were not not paying attention) should best avoid.
Laws are necessary. They are also deeply flawed. Nations have made themselves necessary (for better or for worse) but the whole idea of a nation is deeply flawed.
That does not mean, however, that people should not die to protect what they perceive as freedom, which they may see as embodied in some nation-state. Just be careful what, or who, you choose to die for.
Geez, I just posted a load of c**p. Sorry guys. Back to the matter at hand…..