North Korea admitted to abducting them a few years back as part of a plan to weasel aid out of the Japanese government and its prime minister Koizumi. It backfired, though, and has sparked a confrontation regarding their repatriation and that of the families they have brought up in North Korea.
After coming to Japan to visit, the Japanese government refused to send their citizens back, insisting that their family members be able to come as well. North Korea said no, and since then they've been separated. Recently, Koizumi worked out a deal where NK sends their families over to Japan in exchange for food and medical aid.
There are a few loose ends, though, including a man named Charles Robert Jenkins. As this story explains, he was a soldier guarding the DMZ when he allegedly defected to the North in 1965. Since then, he's been an English teacher, a NK propaganda movie actor, and now most significantly, husband to one of the abductees, Hitomi Soga.
If Jenkins goes to Japan, he could be picked up by the U.S. government for desertion charges. If he stays, he'll be safe, but he's got two daughters that may opt for joining their mother. Thumbs down.
Admittedly, he did a bad thing by deserting 40 years ago -- well, shame on him. However, I think the U.S. government should pardon Jenkins and let him live out the rest of his days in Japan with his family. If there's some sort of punishment to give out to him, let it be exile or something like that, but for pete's sake - the guy's near retirement and any intel the young sergeant forked over to the Commies has long been obsolete. Isn't there a statute of limitations on that stuff?
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