Charles Robert Jenkins Jim Frederick Popular Books

Charles Robert Jenkins Jim Frederick Biography & Facts

Charles Robert Jenkins ((1940-02-18)18 February 1940 – (2017-12-11)11 December 2017) was a United States Army deserter, North Korean prisoner, and voice for Japanese abductees in North Korea. Driven by fear of combat and possible service in the Vietnam War, then-Sergeant Jenkins abandoned his patrol and walked across the Korean Demilitarized Zone in January 1965. Instead of being sent to the Soviet Union and then traded back to the US, Jenkins was held captive in North Korea for over 39 years. While kept prisoner, Jenkins was tortured, forced to wed a captured Japanese national, and cast in North Korean propaganda videos. With improved Japanese–North Korean relations, Jenkins was allowed to travel to Japan and flee the communist Korean state in 2004. After reporting to Camp Zama that September, Jenkins was court-martialed and served 25 days in the brig at United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka. Until his death in 2017, Jenkins lived in his wife's childhood Sado home with her and their two daughters, wrote a book about his experiences in North Korea, worked in a local museum, and was treated like a celebrity by the Japanese. Early life Charles Robert Jenkins was born on (1940-02-18)18 February 1940 in Rich Square, North Carolina, to Patti Casper Jenkins. He had at least two siblings: a younger sister (Pat) and a younger brother (Stanford). Jenkins dropped out of Rich Square High School—precipitated by either a sports injury or the mid-1950s death of his father—in the seventh grade. US Army Lacking a high school diploma, Jenkins enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard from 1955 through April 1958. After his honorable discharge from the Guard, he enlisted in the active-duty United States Army that same year as a light weapons infantryman. First stationed at Fort Hood, Jenkins next volunteered to deploy with the 7th Infantry Division to South Korea from August 1960 through September 1961; while there, he was promoted to sergeant. After briefly returning to the US, Jenkins was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division in West Germany until 1964. That year, he volunteered for a second deployment to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Desertion On 5 January 1965, 24-year-old Sergeant Jenkins was stationed at the DMZ with the Army's 8th Cavalry Regiment when he decided to desert the United States Armed Forces because he was being ordered to lead "more aggressive, provocative patrols", and there were rumors that his unit would be sent to Vietnam. After drinking ten beers to build his courage, Jenkins went on patrol with his squad. At 2:30am, after telling the other three men that "he heard a noise", Jenkins disappeared into the night approximately ten kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Panmunjom. To show his peaceful intentions, he removed the rounds from his M14 rifle, and tied a white t-shirt to the muzzle before walking for several cold hours towards North Korea. He had planned to claim asylum with the Soviet Union and then return to the US for discharge and punishment via a prisoner exchange. He was instead held prisoner in North Korea for 39+1⁄2 years. The Army declared Jenkins a defector based on four letters that he left behind in his barracks; one, addressed to his mother, read: "Forgive me, for I know what I must do. Tell my family I love them. Love, Charles." Jenkins' family disputed this determination because he "always either signed letters 'Robert' or used his nickname 'Super'." In 1996, Jenkins was reclassified by the US military as a deserter. Jenkins' nephew, James Hyman, was a decades-long strident defendant of the theory that his uncle had been kidnapped by North Koreans. Jenkins would later tell Professor Robert Boynton (of New York University) "that he had been a double-agent, sent to North Korea by the U.S. to spy on them". Boynton disbelieved Jenkins' claim, calling it "his attempt to maintain some dignity, and prove he wasn't just a hapless sap who made a life-altering mistake." In North Korea Jenkins was initially housed with fellow US deserters Larry Allen Abshier, James Joseph Dresnok, and Jerry Wayne Parrish. The American men fought amongst themselves, with Jenkins later describing the 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) Dresnok as a bully who informed on the others to their captors. On 26 January 1965, North Korean radio announced that Jenkins had defected there "because of disgust with conditions in South Korea and that he believed life was better under the Communists [sic]." In 1966, the four men attempted escape by seeking asylum at the Soviet embassy in Pyongyang, but were unsuccessful. In 1972, the four US servicemen in North Korea were given their own homes and declared citizens, though their "constant surveillance, beatings and torture" continued. During his imprisonment in North Korea, Jenkins was made to memorize Kim Il Sung's writings and work for the communist state as an English teacher and translator. Jenkins' lessons in American English lasted until 1985 when it was decided that his pronounced Southern accent was more a hindrance than not. In 1978, Hitomi Soga (born in 1958 or 1959) was a Japanese student nurse in Sado, Niigata when she and her mother were kidnapped by North Korean agents and taken to their country to train more agents there. At the direction of the North Korean government, the 21-year-old Soga was assigned to Jenkins in 1980, and they were married weeks later on 8 August. They had two daughters: Mika (born in 1983) and Brinda (born in 1985). An interviewer of Jenkins would later tell The Japan Times that Jenkins' relationship with Soga was remarkable: Jenkins said "several times that she was the best thing that had ever happened to him [...] 'She saved my life,' he told me. I suspect he was right." After their release from North Korea in the early 2000s, Jenkins offered to dissolve their marriage, as it had been imposed upon them; Soga declined. During the North Korean famine that killed millions of North Koreans, as an asset for propaganda, Jenkins and his family still received rations of clothing, insect-infested rice, and soap. In their 2004 testimony, Jenkins and Soga told the US Army about their living accommodations in North Korea—or lack thereof. While heat, warm water, and food were scarce, the omnipresent state surrounded them and their home with barbed wire, hidden microphones, and "political supervisors". By the time he left, Jenkins was receiving from the North Korean government a monthly income of US$120 (equivalent to $193.57 in 2023), and his daughters were enrolled at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, possibly for training to infiltrate South Korea. Acting In 1978, production began on the 20-film series Unsung Heroes which tells the North Korean version of the Korean War and its antecedents. Jenkins was made to play Dr. Kelton, a capitalist warmonger who endeavored to extend the war to benefit the US arms industry. These films made Jenkins a celebrity; he was re.... Discover the Charles Robert Jenkins Jim Frederick popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Charles Robert Jenkins Jim Frederick books.