CAMP ZAMA, Japan — Charles Robert Jenkins, the GI who deserted to North Korea, was given a 30-day sentence Wednesday by a military judge after testifying to four decades of harrowing conditions under the communist regime that were widely acknowledged to be worse than a prison term.
The 64-year-old Jenkins, who frequently burst into tears during his court-martial at this U.S. military camp near Tokyo, said that he was kept in conditions of near-starvation and that the North Koreans removed the U.S. Army tattoo from his forearm with scissors -- without anesthesia.
Jenkins and three other American deserters lived in a one-room house without electricity or water. They spent their time memorizing -- and reciting in Korean -- the propaganda of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. They were watched constantly by minders and were sometimes forced to beat one another.
"North Korea is led by a man who is evil -- evil to his bones," Jenkins, speaking through his court-appointed attorney, said of the current leader, Kim Jong Il. And the GI struck a patriotic tone in an appeal for leniency, declaring, "I still love the United States."
After the hearing, he was whisked to a pretrial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, where he will serve his prison term.
"It's not Club Med, but it's not a hard labor camp either," said Capt. King Dietrich, the base commander. "He'll probably be eating better" than he did in North Korea.
Many in the Pentagon had wished for Jenkins to receive a harsher sentence, but Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government pushed for leniency so Jenkins could be reunited with his Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga, who had been abducted to North Korea in 1978 and was released two years ago.
In a deal reached before Wednesday's court-martial, Jenkins agreed to plead guilty to charges of desertion and aiding the enemy in return for a token appearance in a prison. The military judge, Col. Denise Vowell, who was flown to Japan from Arlington, Va., agreed after hearing the evidence that Jenkins was entitled to clemency.
Under military procedure, it is possible that he will be released before he serves the full 30 days. At the end of the term, he will be dishonorably discharged and lose all possibility of receiving military benefits.
Dressed in his U.S. military uniform, Jenkins spent the day in a wood-paneled courtroom, at times testifying in a deep North Carolina drawl, and at other times having his attorney, James Culp, read a statement.
