JAPAN ARRESTS MAN LINKED TO RED ARMY HIJACKERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002531 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016 TAGS: PTER PREL JA NK SUBJECT: JAPAN ARRESTS MAN LINKED TO RED ARMY HIJACKERS Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer. Reasons 1.4 (B) (D) ¶1. (C) Japanese police arrested Kuniya Akagi, a man linked to the radical Red Army Faction, on June 5 upon his arrival at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, MOFA Northeast Asia Division Deputy Director Yutaka Kashiwabara confirmed to Embassy Tokyo Political Officer June 6. Akagi had just returned from Pyongyang, where he had been living for the last 20 years. Police have, for the time being, charged Akagi with violating Japan's passport law. ¶2. (U) According to Kyodo news reports, confirmed by Kashiwabara, Japanese authorities plan to question Akagi about three Japanese citizens who were abducted from Europe to North Korea in the 1980's. Kuniya Akagi is the brother-in-law of Shiro Akagi, one of the radical Red Army Faction group members who hijacked a Japan Airlines jetliner in March 1970 and forced it to land in the DPRK. (Note: Kuniya Akagi's surname used to be Yonemura, but he changed it to Akagi after marrying Shiro Akagi's sister.) ¶3. (C) Kashiwabara said that Japanese officials see no direct connection between Akagi's return from North Korea and the DPRK's desire to be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror. Japanese authorities also believe Akagi's return will have no direct effect on Six-Party negotiations. MOFA expects that Akagi will be held by police for several days, and then released. Kashiwabara, noting that Akagi appears to have left the DPRK of his own free will, observed that Tokyo officials are "always happy" to see Japanese citizens return from North Korea. SCHIEFFER