Yodogo Hijacking Incident - How Japan Tricked Hijackers To Rescue 129 Hostages

This incident of hijacking took place on March 31, 1970, when a Japanese flight named "Japan Air Lines Flight 351" take off from Tokyo to Fukuoka, commonly known as the "Yodogo". About 20 minutes after takeoff, when the plane reaches some altitude, nine young men on board the plane, armed with Japanese swords, steel pipes, and bombs, rise from their seats with the intention of hijacking the plane. After which, everyone sitting in the plane started screaming and the hijackers then gained control over 129 people (122 passengers and seven crew members) by showing them the power of their weapons. Actually, those nine men were members of the Red Army Faction of the Communist League, who demanded the pilots to fly the plane to Cuba, where their intention was to obtain training by communist military groups. 

But soon after, the hijackers were informed by the pilots that the plane could not take off for Cuba, as the plane was unable to hold the required amount of fuel. Upon learning of this, the hijackers spoke to the Japanese transport minister and asked to refuel the plane in Fukuoka airport in exchange for keeping the 129 hostages alive. But upon arrival at Fukuoka, the hijackers changed their decision and demanded that the plane be diverted to North Korea. But for their demand to be fulfilled, the police attempted to persuade the hijackers to release some of their hostages, and luckily, they succeeded and in return, the pilots were given a map of the Korean peninsula. But Japanese air traffic controllers played a trick here by attaching a note to the map instructing pilots to tune their radios to a specific frequency, as they were fully aware of the situation.

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As a result, they deliberately misguided pilots in an attempt to land the plane at Gimpo Airport in Seoul, South Korea, where they had changed the airport's appearance entirely to that of a North Korean airport. But still, the hijackers were capable of knowing the whole situation and soon realized that they had been tricked. Therefore, Shinjiro Yamamura, the vice minister of Japan, voluntarily decided to take the place of the remaining hostages, which was accepted by the hijackers, and then they proceeded towards Pyongyang, North Korea. Eventually, the plane landed at North Korea's Mirim Airport on April 3, with Shinjiro Yamamura now as a hostage. Upon arrival at Mirim Airport, the hijackers surrendered themselves to North Korean authority.