Moriaki Wakabayashi

On March 31, 1970, Wakabayashi was one of nine hijackers who stormed the cockpit of Japan Airlines Flight 351, brandishing samurai swords and pipe bombs.^[2] At first they demanded to be flown to Cuba, where they expected to receive training as communist guerrilla soldiers. When the hijackers were informed that the Boeing 727 domestic flight did not have the range to fly to Cuba, they instead demanded to be flown to Pyongyang, North Korea.^[2] After stopping for refuelling in the aircraft's original destination of Fukuoka, where 23 hostages were freed, the pilots then flew the plane to Seoul, South Korea, where the airport had been rigged to look like North Korea.^[3] However, the hijackers realized they were tricked after hearing American jazz music playing and finding no welcoming committee awaiting them, whereupon they finally secured passage to North Korea in exchange for releasing the remaining hostages. In North Korea, they were granted political asylum.^[2]

In 1976, while living in North Korea, Wakabayashi married fellow radical activist and political exile Sakiko Wakabayashi, with whom he had two children. In a March 2010 interview with Kyodo News, Wakabayashi stated that the hijacking was a "selfish and conceited" act. Wakabayashi added that he wished to return to Japan and was willing to face arrest and trial for his role in the hijacking.^[4] In April 2014 he was still alive, and residing in North Korea together with other members of his group.^[5]