The Japanese government has decided to bring Charles Jenkins, an accused U.S. Army deserter and the husband of repatriated Japanese abductee Hitomi Soga, to Japan for medical treatment.

The Japanese government said Jenkins had a stomach operation in North Korea for an unspecified illness and might need more surgery.

The Japanese media said Jenkins will likely return to Japan around Friday.

Reports said the government expects Washington will refrain from extraditing Jenkins while he is hospitalized.

The 64-year-old American was reunited with his Japanese wife Soga in Indonesia last week after living for four decades in North Korea.

Soga was returned to Japan from the North with four other abductees in 2002, but had to leave behind Jenkins and two North Korean-born daughters.