Bizarre love story of U.S. deserter in N. Korea
In 2005, "60 Minutes" aired a stunning story of an American soldier who defected to North Korea in 1965 and suffered decades of violent abuses and mind control by the North Korean government. For 39 years, six months, and four days, Charles Robert Jenkins was told how to live, what to read, and even when to have sex. Jenkins eventually found love with another captive, a kidnapped Japanese woman who was forced to teach her native language to North Korean spies.
"60 Minutes" producer Andy Court says Jenkins' bizarre tale is a "rare window" on the regimes of Kim Jong Il, who died yesterday at the age of 69, and his father Kim Jong-sung. Never before has an American lived among the secretive North Koreans so long and escaped to tell the tale. As the world waits to see what's next for North Korea, this interview is an alarming glimpse into what life has been like under the Kim family--whose grip on the country is likely to continue to a third generation.