Jenkins' counsel may arrive in Japan on Wed.: U.S. official

A U.S. military defense lawyer for accused U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins may arrive in Japan on Wednesday, a U.S. official in Japan said.

The official told Kyodo News in the morning that the independent defense counsel for court-martial could arrive in Japan from South Korea ''as early as today.'' But he declined to elaborate.

Jenkins, 64, who is currently staying in a Tokyo hospital for medical treatment, talked with the individual defense counsel by phone late last week and expressed his intention to meet the counsel soon, Japanese sources said earlier.

Jenkins, whom the U.S. military has charged with desertion in 1965 and three other counts, is expected to receive explanations from the lawyer on the process of a probable court-martial and the prospect of a possible plea bargaining to reduce his punishment, the sources said earlier.

Jenkins is also charged with aiding the enemy, encouraging disloyalty and soliciting other service members to desert.

Jenkins married Japanese Hitomi Soga in 1980, two years after she was abducted by DPRK agents. Soga returned to Japan in 2002 but left Jenkins and their two DPRK-born daughters behind.

The family was reunited July 9 in Jakarta, ending their 21-month separation since Soga returned to Japan, as Jenkins initially refused to come to Japan for fear that Tokyo would hand him over to the United States for a court-martial.

Source: Agencies