TOKYO (TR) – Shiro Akagi, an internationally wanted fugitive and member of the extremist group responsible for the infamous 1970 hijacking of a Japan Airlines flight, has died in North Korea, investigative sources revealed. He was 78, reports TBS News (Sep. 16).
According to individuals connected to the matter, supporters in Japan recently received notification that Akagi died of heart failure in Pyongyang on September 12.
Akagi was a member of the radical Japanese Red Army faction. In 1970, he and his cohorts orchestrated the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351, widely known as the “Yodo-go” incident, forcing the passenger jet to fly to Pyongyang. He had been on international wanted lists for decades.
Since fleeing to the reclusive state, the fugitive had reportedly been living alongside other members of the extremist group in a designated “Japanese village” on the outskirts of the North Korean capital.
With Akagi’s passing, only three wanted members of the Yodo-go hijacking remain at large in North Korea: Takahiro Konishi, 82, Moriaki Wakabayashi, 79, and Kimihiro Uomoto, 78.
