Mr Jenkins will receive hospital treatment in Japan

Charles Jenkins, 64, could be turned over to US custody once he has been treated for a stomach complaint.

He flew to Tokyo with his Japanese wife and their two daughters, after a dramatic reunion in Indonesia.

His wife returned to Japan from North Korea in 2002, but Mr Jenkins remained, fearing he would be sought by the US.

Television footage showed a frail Mr Jenkins using a walking stick as he hesitantly disembarked from the plane to a waiting bus at Tokyo airport.

He has been taken to hospital for urgent medical treatment of a reportedly serious stomach condition, following earlier surgery in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

'Sympathetic'

The US ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker, said on Saturday the US would consider delaying its request for Japan to turn over Mr Jenkins.

He said the US was "sympathetic" to Mr Jenkins' condition, after Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi urged them to "consider the humanitarian aspects of the case".

On Thursday, a State Department spokesman insisted the US would pursue Mr Jenkins once he arrived in Japan, under a Status of Forces agreement between the two countries.

The Pentagon has charged Mr Jenkins with desertion and five other related charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice Jenkins' extraordinary story

The reunion between Mr Jenkins, his wife Hitomi Soga, 45, and their two daughters was arranged by Japan to be held in Indonesia - which does not have an extradition agreement with the US.

It was thought to be the first time Mr Jenkins had left North Korea since arriving there in 1965, after disappearing from his US patrol in South Korea.

Mr Jenkins met and married Ms Soga in Pyongyang in 1980.

His wife is one of a group of Japanese who were kidnapped by North Korean secret agents during the 1970s.

They had not seen each other since 2002, when Ms Soga was allowed to return to Japan.