US soldier who deserted to North Korea in 1965 dies aged 77

A U.S. soldier who deserted to North Korea more than half a century ago, but who was eventually allowed to leave the secretive state, has died in Japan aged 77.
One of the Cold War’s strangest dramas began in 1965 when Charles Robert Jenkins, then a 24-year-old army sergeant nicknamed “Scooter” from tiny Rich Square in North Carolina, disappeared one January night while on patrol near the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas.
At an emotional court martial in Japan in 2004, Jenkins – who had never gone to high school – said he deserted to avoid hazardous duty in South Korea and escape combat in Vietnam.

US soldier who deserted to North Korea in 1965 dies aged 77