Red Army members want talks with Japan on return from N Korea

Wednesday 10th March, 05:01 AM JST

BEIJING —

Four of nine former Red Army Faction members who defected to North Korea after hijacking a Japan Airlines plane to the country in 1970 plan to request talks with the Japanese government about their return to Japan, their agent said Tuesday in Beijing after a four-day trip to North Korea.

The four also plan to ask for return from North Korea of two Japanese women who are married to two of the hijackers, Yukio Yamanaka, head of a Tokyo human rights group helping the hijackers, told reporters. The four—Takahiro Konishi, Shiro Akagi, Kimihiro Uomoto, Moriaki Wakabayashi—plan to lodge the request with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama as early as April, Yamanaka said.

Of the original nine hijackers, three are believed to have died, while one was arrested in Japan in May 1988 after sneaking into the country using an illegally obtained passport and another was arrested by Thai authorities and turned over to Japanese police in March 2000.

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15 Comments

gonemad at 09:35 AM JST - 10th March

homesick or finally fed up with the promised land?
Scrote at 09:46 AM JST - 10th March

They have decided that the workers paradise of North Korea is not for them. They were happy enough trying to force their communist ideas down everyone else's throats, but now they find themselves excluded from the privileged elite they want nothing more to do with communism. Funny that.
timorborder at 10:24 AM JST - 10th March

I wish news articles would not refer to people as "hijackers." They are (rapidly-aging) terrorists and should be treated as such. If they want to return to Japan, they must be willing to face court and take their medicine. Barring that, they should left to expire in that "nirvana on earth" that is North Korea.
brotokyo at 10:43 AM JST - 10th March

"plan to request talks with the Japanese government about their return to Japan, their agent said ..."

What, they have an agent instead of a lawyer?
sarahsoy29 at 12:48 PM JST - 10th March

What was the original story of the hijacking? Did they have hostages? Were the hostages let go? If they killed innocent people or forced them to go to North Korea unwillingly, I say let them stay right where they are. Either way, though, they gave up their Japanese citizenship to go there, and shouldn't just be able to get it back because North Korea didn't work out they way they thought it would. If their wives went unwillingly, they should be allowed to return.
zhazam05 at 12:49 PM JST - 10th March

They Got Nerves of Steel,and are Devoid of Sympathetic values. I guess they feel they should have a "well earned"retirement after all these years!In PRISON CELLS,I hope!!
brotokyo at 01:00 PM JST - 10th March

For those who would like to refresh memories, here is a BBC link for the one who had already been arrested in 1996 and brought to justice 4 yrs later: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1820110.stm
The758 at 02:01 PM JST - 10th March

They've got real balls expecting to just waltz back into Japan. Why not hang them?
goddog at 02:19 PM JST - 10th March

Tell them they can come back if each one brings with him/her one of the abducted Japanese by the North Koreans.
elbudamexicano at 03:18 PM JST - 10th March

I completely agree with The 758! Welcome back to Japan, but straight a federal prison and to the gallows!
MrUSA at 05:27 PM JST - 10th March

Tell them they can come back if each one brings with him/her one of the abducted Japanese by the North Koreans.

Great idea!
gonemad at 12:59 AM JST - 11th March

I wish news articles would not refer to people as "hijackers."

timorborder, news articles should use appropriate and precise wording as much as possible. This is news and not a political opinion piece.
BrightEyes at 07:56 AM JST - 11th March

Screw 'em.

Their made their beds. Let 'em sleep in them.
WilliB at 11:15 PM JST - 12th March

I dare say.... is he getting tired of life in the Workers Paradise? How funny that socialists always tell us how bad capitalism is, yet prefer to live here...