Shiro Akagi, suspect in 1970 plane hijacking, presumed dead

Shiro Akagi, a member of the group that hijacked Japan Airlines’ “Yodo” jet in 1970, is believed to have died in North Korea, where he was living, his supporters have said. He was 78.

Japanese police have obtained the information and are working to confirm the fact.

Internationally wanted, Akagi was living in a suburb of Pyongyang with five people, including other members of the hijacking group such as Kimihiro Uomoto, 78, and the wife of Takamaro Tamiya, a late former executive of the Japanese Red Army.

Akagi had been repeatedly hospitalized due to a chronic illness. He died of heart failure at a hospital in Pyongyang on Saturday, according to the supporters, who obtained the information from sources in North Korea.

In the March 1970 incident, Tamiya, Akagi and seven others, armed with weapons including Japanese swords, hijacked the JAL plane carrying a total of 129 passengers and crew members, which was bound for Fukuoka Airport from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

After releasing passengers and crew members at Fukuoka Airport and Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, the hijackers flew to North Korea aboard the Yodo jet.