Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday he will seek special consideration from the United States for Charles Jenkins, an accused US deserter as well as husband of a returned Japanese abductee from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

According to Kyodo News, the premier's comments were made to reporters in Nakanoshima, north Japan's Niigata Prefecture, where he inspected devastated areas hit by recent heavy rain.

Jenkins arrived in Tokyo Sunday from Jakarta, together with his wife Hitomi Soga, whom he married in the DPRK in 1980, and their two daughters.

He has been hospitalized in Tokyo since then for medical treatment.

Source: Xinhua