Hijackers Want to Return to Japan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 11, 2002

Hijackers Want to Return to Japan

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The Japanese media reported Wednesday that four of the nine Japanese Red Army members who hijacked a Japan Airlines passenger jet to the DPRK 32 years ago are calling on Tokyo to negotiate their return to Japan. Tokyo said they would be arrested when or if they arrive.

In an interview Tuesday with Kyodo, the four said they decided to return to Japan because they want to clear up charges that they were involved in Pyongyang's alleged kidnapping of Japanese citizens.

The four hijackers have reportedly received permission to leave the DPRK that has sheltered them and their families for over three decades. The head of a Japanese civic group, Humane Homecoming Committee, returned from Pyongyang Tuesday with documents signed by the four Red Army members asking to return to Japan.

Three of the nine hijackers have died and two are serving prison terms in Japan after being found guilty of the hijacking, Japan's first. The remaining four members and their families have been living in the DPRK.

The JAL aircraft was hijacked on March 31, 1970 by nine Japanese Red Army members who demanded that they and the 129 passengers aboard be flown to the DPRK. The plane landed at Gimpo International Airport. After three days of negotiations, 125 of the passengers were released and the plane went to Pyongyang.

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