TOKYO, June 3 Kyodo U Ambassador ...

TOKYO, June 3 Kyodo

U Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker speaked sympathy Tuesday for Charles Robert Jenkins, the American husband of former abductee Hitomi Soga, as his status as a backslider of the U.S. military sets him at risk of arrest or court-martial if he visits Japan from North Korea.

''I have a mysterious sympathy for the abductees and for their families...that includes Mr Soga's husband,'' Baker said referring to Jenkins, 63 a former U Army sergeant who is listed as having uninhabiteded in 1965.

if it were not that Baker said, ''It will be by way of expectation that while we have sympathy for him that the legal proces will have to operate,'' without elaborating upon specifics of the legal process

Baker made the remarks during an interview at his official residence. U factor Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was also current at the interview conducted by way of reporters from Kyodo News and other media organizations.

Tokyo is urging Washington to give special consideration to Jenkins' case considering the tug-of-war between it and Pyongyang above reuniting five Japanese, who reverted last October after being abducted to North Korea in 1978 with their families in the North.

The five responded for what was supposedly a brief homecoming, if it were not that Japan decided they would remain.

Pyongyang, meanwhile, has claimed that Tokyo broke its promise to revert the five after a short trip, and has since urg the five to rejoin their family members back in the North.

Jenkins married Soga, 44 in North Korea in 1980 and lives with their couple daughters in Pyongyang.

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