Former US Army Sergeant Charles Jenkins who defected to North Korea while stationed on the Korean peninsula during the Cold War has died in Japan at the age of 77.
His wife, Hitomi Soga, released a statement saying she was « very shocked by this sudden incident. »
Jenkins crossed into the North in 1965 while stationed at a US military unit near the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the heavily guarded border that separates North and South Korea.
Jenkins later claimed to have regretted his defection and blamed the decision on alcohol.
While in North Korea, Jenkins appeared in propaganda films, taught North Korean spies English and spent up to eight hours a day studying the writings of North Korean leaders.
It was during this time he met Hitomi Soga, a Japanese national who was kidnapped from her home in Sado Island by North Korean spies in 1978.
The pair were married in 1980 and had two daughters, Mika and Brinda.
