The reason for this action was that at that time, Takaji Tamiya and others believed that "revolution should not be carried out only in Japan, but that socialist countries should be transformed as a base for the Japanese revolution and as an international base for the world revolution." Prepare for armed struggle in a socialist country before landing in Japan again." So they hijacked planes and flew to North Korea. This is because they believe that North Korea is the closest geographically "hostile country with imperialism," an "enemy of enemies," and the "nearest anti-American country."

On the morning of March 31, 1970, nine members of the "Red Army" faction, led by Takaro Tamiya, boarded JAL Flight 351 from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Itatsuke Airport (now Fukuoka Airport). At 7:33 a.m. (Tokyo time), when the plane flew over Mt. Fuji, Tamiya and others carried out a hijacking plan with Japanese knives and bombs. There were 7 flight attendants and 122 passengers on board at the time, and these 129 people were taken hostage. At that time, the Boeing 727 jetliner known as the "Yodo" was hijacked, which is also known as the "Yodo hijacking", which was the first hijacking in Japanese history.

The hijackers drove the male passengers to the window side and tied them up with the ropes they were carrying. A part of the hijackers rushed into the cockpit, took control of the pilot Toshio Aihara, and ordered the captain Shinji Ishida and the co-pilot Eichi Ezaki to drive the plane to Pyongyang.

The captain demanded that the plane be "refueled" on the grounds that the plane was flying on a domestic route and that there was not enough fuel to go to North Korea. The hijackers agreed. At 8:59, the plane flew to Itatsuke Airport, and the Japanese police and Self-Defense Forces tried to take some measures to keep the plane stranded at the airport, but these activities instead stimulated the hijackers, who demanded that the plane take off. In this case, the captain persuaded the hijackers to release part of the hostages on the condition that they agreed to take off again. 1:35 p.m. Twenty-three hostages, including the sick, women, children and the elderly, were released. At 1:59, the plane took off again and flew in the direction of North Korea.

The Yodo flew north along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula and changed course to the west at 2:40 p.m. At this time, on the right side of the "Yodo" appeared a fighter with a hidden nationality. The pilot of the fighter signaled the captain to land. And flew away. (There is also a theory that there is no hiding nationality, and that a fighter with the South Korean Air Force logo appears.) )

The "Yodo" crossed the 38th parallel, but because the Armistice Line between the North and South of Korea did not fully coincide with the 38th parallel, and in fact the "Yodo" was still in South Korean airspace, the co-pilot believed that it had entered the DPRK and called the designated band in English, but did not respond.

Shortly afterward, the plane received a radio signal "This is Pyongyang, enter navigation". Indicates switching the band from 121.5 MHz to 134.1 MHz. The aircraft was guided to turn to the left and again crossed the 38th parallel and headed south. This was an operation by the South Korean authorities to deceive the hijackers in order to prevent the plane from flying to North Korea. Because none of the hijackers knew Korean and English, there was no doubt. At 3:16 p.m., the "Yodo" landed at the so-called "Pyongyang International Airport". The airport is actually Gimpo International Airport on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea, and South Korea has done some camouflage work beforehand, with their soldiers wearing North Korean uniforms and some female soldiers holding placards that say "Welcome to Pyongyang."

However, one of the hijackers noticed something unusual when they spotted a U.S. plane parked in Gimpo International Airport. (On how hijackers find vulnerabilities.) Accounts have varied to this day, such as "the trademark of an aviation fuel drum" and "the hijackers turned on the radio." There are various theories such as "American music" and "black soldiers in jeeps were found". )

To find out the truth, the hijackers asked the man who was close to the fuselage, "Is this Pyongyang?" The man replied, "It's Pyongyang." The hijackers then asked what North Korea's five-year plan was, but the respondents could not answer. The hijackers further demanded that they produce large photographs of the leader Kim Il Sung, which of course were not available to South Korea, an enemy of North Korea, and thus convinced that these were disguises.

Thereupon. The hijackers demanded an immediate take-off, but the South Korean authorities refused to cooperate because the restarting of the stopped engine required auxiliary engines, etc., and the two sides reached a stalemate. In the early morning of April 1. Japan's Parliamentary Undersecretary for Transport, Shinjiro Yamamura, arrived at Gimpo International Airport to negotiate with the hijackers with the assistance of relevant South Korean officials.

The co-pilot of the "Yodo" wrote down the number of hijackers, their location, weapons, and other information on a paper cup and threw it from the porthole, and the South Korean authorities, who had the general situation of the hijackers, were ready to use special forces to forcibly rescue the hostages, but the Japanese government rejected this suggestion. The Japanese government, through the Soviet Union and the International Red Cross, appealed to the Korean government for help, hoping to protect the hostages when the Yodo arrived in Korea. In response, the North Korean authorities replied that "for humanitarian reasons, if the 'Yodo' flies into North Korea, it will directly return the crew and passengers."

On April 3, 1970, Japan's Parliamentary Undersecretary for Transport, Shinjiro Yamamura, decided to take the place of the passengers, and after some negotiations, the hijackers released the remaining passengers and four flight attendants. At 6:05 p.m., the plane took off again, crossing the 38th parallel and entering North Korean airspace. The captain did not get a real map at this time, and after entering the airspace of the DPRK, there was no wireless navigation and guidance from the DPRK Air Force, so he could only fly roughly in the direction of Pyongyang International Airport. As it was nearly evening, the captain could only discern a small channel with the naked eye, and the plane landed at 7:21 p.m. In fact, it was not Pyongyang International Airport that landed, but Merrill Lynch Airport, which was used during the Korean War.

After the plane landed, the North Korean side demanded that the hijackers disarm, and the hijackers laid down their weapons and went outside the plane. Later, it was discovered that the Japanese swords, pistols, bombs, etc. they used were all props or imitations.

On April 4, 1970, the DPRK issued a statement to "return the airframe and crew from a humanitarian point of view," after which the three crew members and Shinjiro Yamamura returned home. As for the hijackers, North Korea allowed them to stay in North Korea on the pretext of continuing the necessary investigations, and the matter came to an end for the time being.

The nine members of the "Red Army faction" who participated in the hijacking were: Takahiro Tamiya, Yoshizo Tanaka, Takahiro Konishi, Kimihiro Uomoto, Kintaro Yoshida, Takeshi Okamoto, Moriryo Wakabayashi, Shiro Akagi, and Yasuhiro Shibata.

They originally went to North Korea to persuade Kim Il Sung to make North Korea an international base, but after arriving in North Korea, they allegedly "accepted the brainwashing of North Korea's Juche ideology and worked for Kim Il Sung," and later got married and had children in North Korea. Their wives are all female members of the "Juche Thought Research Society" in Japan, and the two sides first get in touch with each other, and after obtaining their consent, they are allowed to secretly go to Korea under the pretext of traveling abroad. (To be continued.) )