Thai envoy wants chat with Jenkins

Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkon said Friday he will visit Japan in March and wants to meet former U.S. Army deserter Charles Jenkins, who claims to have met a missing Thai woman in North Korea when he lived there.

After meeting with visiting Senior Vice Foreign Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki, Kantathi told reporters he will visit Japan from March 7 and intends to hold talks on a range of issues, including the case of Anocha Panjoy.

Reports of the possible abduction of Anocha, from the northern San Kamphaeng District in Chiang Mai Province, emerged after Charles Jenkins, who lived in North Korea for almost 40 years until 2004, stated in his memoirs published last year that he had met her there.

Jenkins now resides in Japan with his Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga, whom he met in North Korea. She herself was abducted by North Korean agents in 1978.

Kantathi said he has sent letters to North Korea urging further investigation, but Pyongyang has denied that Anocha is in the country.