Japan Airlines Flight 351 hijacking
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| Japan Airlines Flight 351 hijacking | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Japan Airlines Flight 351 hijacking |
| Date | 1969-03-31 |
| Type | Hijacking |
| Site | Haneda Airport; Fukuoka Airport; Shimoyama Airport; Haneda Airport |
| Perpetrators | Japanese Red Army (formerly Kyoto University Red Army Faction) |
| Weapons | Firearms |
Japan Airlines Flight 351 hijacking Japan Airlines Flight 351 hijacking was a 1969 hijacking of a domestic flight that became a landmark incident involving the Japanese Red Army and the Japanese New Left. The event connected institutions such as Japan Airlines, airports including Haneda Airport, and international actors like the PLO and the government of North Korea. The incident influenced later incidents including the Dawson's Field hijackings and shaped discourse around aircraft security and left-wing militancy in Japan.
Background
In the late 1960s, the Japanese New Left fractured into factions including the Red Army Faction (Japan), the Communist League (Bund) offshoots, and activists from Waseda University, University of Tokyo, and Kyoto University. Student groups such as Zengakuren and organizations like the Japan Communist Party opposed the Japan-US Security Treaty (Anpo) and the Vietnam War, while international links with the Palestine Liberation Organization and contacts in Beirut and Beijing influenced militants. The Red Army Faction drew inspiration from incidents like the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, the May 1968 events in France, and the Prague Spring, aligning tactically with groups such as the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army. Law enforcement agencies including the National Police Agency (Japan) and local prefectural police had recently increased surveillance after actions at Nihon University and clashes with riot police during demonstrations at Shinjuku Station.
Hijacking
On 31 March 1969, members of the Red Army Faction (Japan) seized Japan Airlines Flight 351, a domestic Boeing flight scheduled from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to Fukuoka Airport. The hijackers, influenced by figures like Kozo Okamoto and the rhetoric of Kenji Goto (activist), used firearms and held crew and passengers hostage, demanding asylum and passage to sympathetic states. The incident unfolded amid contemporaneous hijackings including the Dawson's Field hijackings and drew responses from the Ministry of Transport (Japan), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), and the Prime Minister's office headed by Eisaku Satō. Negotiations involved local police commanders from Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and prefectural authorities in Fukuoka Prefecture. After landing at Fukuoka Airport and then diverting, the aircraft ultimately continued to Fukuoka, then to Itazuke Air Base, before hijackers insisted on flying to Fukuoka Prefecture locales and eventually to North Korea.
Aircraft and Crew
The aircraft involved was a Japan Airlines Boeing 727 operated by crew affiliated with Japan Airlines (JAL), captained by a pilot employed since the era after the Japan Air Transport Union negotiations. Crew members included a captain, first officer, flight engineer, and cabin crew trained under JAL procedures influenced by international carriers such as Pan American World Airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). Passengers included students from institutions like Keio University and Meiji University, journalists from outlets including Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, and Yomiuri Shimbun, and foreign nationals associated with diplomatic posts of countries like South Korea and United States Department of State missions. The aircraft’s equipment and flight manifest were scrutinized by aviation authorities including the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Destination and Aftermath
Hijackers forced the aircraft toward destinations beyond Japan, seeking refuge in states sympathetic to revolutionary movements, negotiating with representatives connected to the Palestine Liberation Organization and contacts in Beirut and Damascus. Ultimately several hijackers and passengers were transported to North Korea, where return and repatriation issues later involved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan), the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and bilateral talks referencing Japan–North Korea relations. Japanese police investigations led to arrests at locations tied to the Red Army Faction (Japan), and families of hostages engaged with civil organizations including Victims' Rights groups and labor unions like the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan.
Legal Proceedings and Sentences
Following arrests, trials were held in Japanese courts including the Tokyo District Court and appeals at the Supreme Court of Japan. Defendants affiliated with the Red Army Faction (Japan) faced charges under the Criminal Code (Japan) for hijacking, illegal possession of firearms, and conspiracy, prosecuted by the Public Prosecutors Office (Japan). Sentences ranged from long-term imprisonment handed down by judges influenced by precedents from cases such as the trials of Shoko Asahara's followers and other 1960s militant defendants. Some perpetrators attempted to appeal using defenses citing political motives and connections to international actors like the Palestine Liberation Organization, while prosecutors cited statutes and decisions from earlier cases such as the Lockheed bribery scandal prosecutions for evidentiary parallels.
Legacy and Cultural Impact
The hijacking influenced subsequent Japanese policy on aviation security for carriers including Japan Airlines and regulatory oversight by the Ministry of Transport (Japan), shaping practices later codified after incidents like the Dawson's Field hijackings and the Entebbe raid's global reverberations. Cultural responses appeared in works by authors linked to Shōhei Imamura-era cinema, commentary in Asahi Shimbun editorials, and scholarly analyses from International Institute for Strategic Studies and academics at Keio University and University of Tokyo. Memory of the incident persists in discussions of Japan–North Korea relations, the history of the Japanese New Left, and narratives about airline security reforms influenced by international law from the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (The Hague Hijacking Convention). The hijacking also entered popular culture via documentaries and retrospectives on networks like NHK and in literature exploring the era of radicalism in postwar Japan.
Category:Aircraft hijackings in Japan Category:Japan Airlines Category:History of the Japanese Red Army Category:1969 in Japan