American died who spent forty years in North Korean captivity

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An American soldier who fled to North Korea died not to fight in Vietnam and became a prisoner of Pyongyang for 40 years.

Freed in 2004 from captivity, 77-year-old Charles Jenkins moved with his family to Japan.

Together with four other American soldiers, he fled to the DPRK from South Korea, where he then served. Deserters gained fame by starring in propaganda cinema. However, Jenkins was the only one who eventually managed to free himself from captivity.

It is believed that the rest died in North Korea. Among them was James Dresnok, who was no longer in 2016 after a stroke.

Charles Jenkins died on Monday on Sado Island, where he lived with his wife, Hitomi Soga, also a former North Korean prisoner.

According to Japanese media reports, he fell close to his home, after which he was hospitalized. Jenkins died in hospital due to heart failure.

Jenkins' widow, whose words are transmitted by AFP, admitted that her husband’s death was a surprise to her and she was not able to think about anything.

Plan that failed

Jenkins life in North Korea was incredible and extremely difficult. He described his experience in memoirs and numerous interviews.

In 1965, a US Army Sergeant served in the demilitarized zone on the side of South Korea. Fearing that he would either be killed during a patrol or sent to war in Vietnam, Jenkins decided to leave his unit and flee across the border.

He hoped that in the DPRK he would be granted asylum by the Soviet embassy. Back in the US, he intended to return after an exchange of prisoners.

One January evening, after several cans of beer, he crossed the demilitarized zone. On the other side, he surrendered to the North Korean military. He was just 24 of the year.

Contrary to expectations, the Soviet embassy did not provide asylum to him or other fleeing Americans. Instead, they were all captured by the North Koreans.

“Going back to that decision, I can say that I was a fool. If there is a God in heaven, he got me through all of this,” Jenkins said in a 2005 interview with CBS.

Prisoners were forced to study the teachings of Kim Il Sung, do translations and teach English. In addition, they became local celebrities, playing villains from the West in a North Korean propaganda film.

Jenkins himself was not in prison, he had an apartment in Pyongyang, but he was not allowed to leave North Korea.

Jenkins said that he was beaten in captivity and underwent cruel medical procedures that were not necessary. Among them, for example, the removal of an American army tattoo without anesthesia. It was hell, Jenkins recalled.

Good night

The only bright moment in the life of the prisoner was Hitomi Soga, who was abducted in Japan to teach North Korean spies Japanese.

In 1980, she was transferred to Jenkins. And in two weeks, according to the military, they were forcibly married. Nevertheless, they were united by a common hatred of the enemy, so that over time they fell in love with each other.

In his memoirs, Jenkins described how he would say “oyasumi,” or “good night” in Japanese, to Hitomi every night before going to bed. His wife always answered him in English.

“We did this so as not to forget who we were and where we came from,” he wrote.

The couple had two daughters - Mika and Brinda. According to Jenkins, they were treated better than ordinary prisoners as foreign prisoners. Even when famine hit North Korea in the 1990s, they did not stop feeding them.

In 2002, after negotiations with the Japanese government, Hitomi was able to return home. Two years later, Pyongyang released both Jenkins and his two daughters.

The family reunion took place under the scrutiny of the Japanese press, where former prisoners were treated with great sympathy.

In Japan, Jenkins surrendered to the American military. Forty years after his escape, he was betrayed by a US military court.

Jenkins was sentenced to a 30-day prison sentence and fired, depriving everyone of his rights and privileges.

"North Korea wants me dead"

The family settled on Sado Island, in the hometown of Hitomi. There Jenkins found work, meeting tourists in an amusement park.

However, at liberty he had to struggle with cultural shock, and after many years spent in an isolated country, adapt to modern life.

In a CBS interview, he said that he had never dealt with a computer, let alone on the Internet. He was extremely surprised that there were many women in the army, and blacks were taken to work in the police.

Medical procedures transferred in captivity caused severe complications. Because of this, Jenkins was hospitalized almost immediately after his release, which he described in one of his last interviews, which was released in August.

Even at large, Jenkins feared fear, expecting him or his family to be killed.

“North Korea wants me dead,” he told reporters.

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