83 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
83 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
The **Japanese Red Army** were a militant [Marxist-Leninist and
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Anti-Imperialist group](Marxist-Leninist_Groups "wikilink") founded in
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1971 that aimed to overthrow the Japanese government and start a world
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revolution.
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## Actions
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- March 31, 1970: nine members of the JRA's predecessor, the *Red Army
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Faction* (whose leaders had been a part of the *Communist League*
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before they were thrown out), conducted Japan's most infamous
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hijacking, that of Japan Airlines Flight 351, a domestic Japan
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Airlines Boeing 727 carrying 129 people at Tokyo International
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Airport. Wielding katanas and a bomb, they forced the crew to fly
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the airliner to Fukuoka and later Gimpo Airport in Seoul, where all
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the passengers were freed. The aircraft then flew to North Korea,
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where the hijackers abandoned it and the crewmembers were released.
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Tanaka was the only one to be convicted. Three of Tanaka's alleged
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accomplices later died in North Korea and five remain there. According
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to Japan's National Police Agency, another accomplice may also have died
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in North Korea.<sup>\[19\]</sup>
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- May 30, 1972: the Lod Airport massacre; a gun- and grenade attack at
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Israel's Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, now Ben Gurion International
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Airport, killed 26 people; about 80 others were
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wounded.<sup>\[20\]</sup>
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`One of the three attackers then committed suicide with a grenade, `
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another was shot in the crossfire. The only surviving attacker was Kōzō
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Okamoto. Many of the victims were Christian pilgrims.<sup>\[21\]</sup>
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- July 1973: Red Army members led the hijacking of Japan Air Lines
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Flight 404 over the Netherlands. The passengers and crew were
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released in Libya, where the hijackers blew up the aircraft.
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- January 1974: the Laju incident; the JRA attacked a Shell facility
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in Singapore and took five hostages; simultaneously, the PFLP seized
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the Japanese embassy in Kuwait. The hostages were exchanged for a
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ransom and safe passage to South Yemen.
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- September 13, 1974: the French Embassy in The Hague, Netherlands was
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stormed.
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The ambassador and ten other people were taken hostage and a Dutch
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policewoman, Joke Remmerswaal, was shot in the back, puncturing a lung.
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After lengthy negotiations, the hostages were freed in exchange for the
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release of a jailed Red Army member (Yatsuka Furuya), $300,000 and the
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use of an aircraft. The hostage-takers flew first to Aden, South Yemen,
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where they were not accepted and then to Syria. Syria did not consider
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hostage-taking for money revolutionary, and forced them to give up their
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ransom.<sup>\[22\]</sup>
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- August 1975: the Red Army took more than 50 hostages at the AIA
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building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The
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hostages included the US consul and the Swedish chargé d'affaires.
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The gunmen won the release of five imprisoned comrades and flew with
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them to Libya.
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- August 11, 1976: in Istanbul, Turkey, four people were killed and
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twenty wounded by PFLP and Japanese Red Army terrorists in an attack at
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Istanbul Atatürk airport.<sup>\[23\]</sup>
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- September 1977: The Red Army hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 472 over
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India and forced it to land in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Japanese
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Government freed six imprisoned members of the group and allegedly
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paid a $6M ransom.
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- December 1977: a suspected lone member of the Red Army hijacked
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Malaysian Airline System Flight 653.<sup>\[24\]</sup> The flight was
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carrying the Cuban ambassador to Tokyo, Mario Garcia. The Boeing 737
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crashed killing all on board.
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- May 1986: the Red Army fired mortar rounds at the embassies of
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Japan, Canada and the United States in Jakarta,
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Indonesia.<sup>\[25\]</sup>
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- June 1987: a similar attack was launched on the British and United
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States embassies in Rome, Italy.<sup>\[11\]</sup>
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- April 1988: Red Army members bombed the US military recreational
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(USO) club in Naples, Italy, killing five.<sup>\[11\]</sup>
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- In the same month, JRA operative Yū Kikumura was arrested with
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explosives on the New Jersey Turnpike
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highway, apparently to coincide with the USO bombing. He was convicted
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of these charges and served time in a United States prison until his
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release in April 2007. Upon his return to Japan he was immediately
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arrested on suspicion of using fraudulent travel documents. |