Charles Jenkins, the former U.S. Army sergeant who deserted to North Korea during the Cold War and now lives in Japan, will visit the United States with his family, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
Jenkins plans to visit the United States with his wife, Hitomi Soga, a former abductee repatriated from North Korea, and their two daughters to see his mother, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiken Sugiura told a news conference.
People close to Soga said the family may leave Tuesday, but Sugiura did not confirm the departure date and said the trip is private.
The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo issued a passport to Jenkins in May.
Jenkins, 65, is from Rich Square, N.C., and has not seen his mother, who is in her 90s, for at least 40 years.
His family now lives on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture.
The couple have two daughters born in North Korea — Mika, 22, and Brinda, 19, — who are students at Niigata University's International Exchange Support Center.
Jenkins, Mika and Brinda came to Japan last July to be reunited with Soga, 46, who was allowed to return to Japan in 2002 along with four other Japanese abducted by North Korean agents in 1978.
Jenkins, who deserted to North Korea in 1965 while serving in the South, married Soga in 1980. He was found guilty of desertion and aiding the enemy in a court-martial in Japan in November and served 30 days in confinement.
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