A FORMER UNITED STATES SOLDIER CAPTURED DURING THE KOREA WAR HAS LEFT THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA DISILLUSIONED WITH COMMUNISM. ALBERT BELHOMME, A BELGIAN NATIONAL WHO HELD THE RANK OF SERGEANT, CHOSE TO REMAIN IN CHINA AFTER HOSTILITIES ENDED IN 1953.

"I HAD MANY REASONS FOR THIS", HE SAID, "INCLUDING POLITICS AND ADVENTURE." MR BELHOMME CROSSED THE BORDER INTO HONGKONG ON FRIDAY. WITH HIM WAS HIS WIFE, CHINESE-BORN HSIO YING, 28 AND THEIR THREE CHILDREN, RANGING FROM ONE TO SIX YEARS.

HE MET HIS FUTURE WIFE WHILE WORKING AS AN ELECTRICIAN IN A PAPER MILL IN SHANGTUNG PROVINCE. THE FAMILY LOOKED FIT AND HAPPY WHEN GREETED AT THE BORDER BY A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BRITISH RED CROSS.

BELHOMME, WHO WAS DISHONOURABLY DISCHARGED FROM THE U.S. ARMY IN 1954, TOLD PRESSMEN THAT HIS MAIN CONCERN WAS TO GIVE HIS CHILDREN A BETTER FUTURE. "I WAS NOSTALGIC FOR THE OUTSIDE WORLD AND POLITICALLY DISILLUSIONED."