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RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Charles Jenkins, who deserted his U.S. Army unit and fled to North Korea in 1965, says his communist keepers abused him and controlled every aspect of his life, down to telling him how often to have sex.

"It was the worst mistake anyone ever made," he said. "In words, I cannot express the feelings I have towards North Korea, the harassment I got. The hard life."

In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on "60 Minutes," the native of Rich Square, North Carolina, said he was given no painkillers when a tattoo on his forearm that read "U.S. Army" was cut off with a scalpel and scissors.

"They told me the anesthetic was for the battlefield," Jenkins said. "It was hell."

Jenkins was a 24-year-old sergeant when he crossed the border into to North Korea. He stayed for 39 years, appearing in propaganda films and teaching English.

In 1980, he married a Japanese citizen, Hitomi Soga, who had been kidnapped and taken to North Korea two years earlier to train spies in Japanese language and culture. She was released in 2002 and Jenkins followed two years later, surrendering to U.S. authorities and serving a month in jail for desertion.

Jenkins told "60 Minutes" that his government handlers assigned him a Korean woman with whom he was supposed to have sex twice a month, and they beat him severely when he balked.

Later, when he met his wife, the only thing they initially had in common was a shared hatred of North Korea. After they were married, Jenkins said, the emotion inspired them to tell each other good night in their respective native languages.

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