Home-bound after 40 yrs

Charles Jenkins (R) , the US soldier who deserted to North Korea in 1965, leads his family members before departing at Narita Airport, Chiba Prefcture yesterday. Jenkins, 65, left Japan with his Japanese wife who he met in Pyongyang and their two North Korean-born daughters, on a commercial flight. At left is his wife Hitomi Soga, and their two North Korean-born daughters, Mika (rear L), Brinda (rear R). PHOTO: AFP

Charles Jenkins, his Japanese wife and their two daughters were scheduled to fly to Washington on Tuesday after spending a night in Tokyo. He has said he has no plans to move to the United States, but has repeatedly said he wants to see his 91-year-old mother, who lives in a nursing home in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

He was expected to stay in the United States for about a week. The US Embassy in Tokyo issued him a passport last month.

Jenkins, 65, served 25 days in a US military jail in Japan last year after a court-martial. He came to Japan in July to be with his wife, Hitomi Soga, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1978 but allowed to return home in 2002.

The couple, who met in North Korea, live with their daughters in Soga's hometown of Mano, on the tiny island of Sado, off the northwestern coast of Japan's main island of Honshu.