Deserter Granted Residency in Japan

Niigata, Japan - Charles Jenkins, the American husband of a repatriated Japanese abductee to North Korea, was granted permanent residency status in Japan on Tuesday.

Jenkins, a former US Army sergeant who fled to North Korea, married Hitomi Soga there and lived in the country for almost 40 years, came to Japan with the couple's two North Korean-born daughters in July 2004.

He visited the Niigata Branch Office of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau on Tuesday to obtain the status.

The Justice Ministry decided to grant it to him on Friday only half a month after Jenkins applied for the status. Usually, foreign nationals need about six months to obtain permanent residency status.

Jenkins, 68, has been living in his wife's hometown on Sado Island in the Sea of Japan since completing a 30-day detention for desertion at a US Army base in Japan.

He acquired temporary residency status as Soga's spouse and is required to renew it every three years. With permanent residency status, Jenkins will not be required to go through further renewals.

Soga, 49, together with four other victims of North Korean abduction, was returned to Japan in October 2002, a month after then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.