Ex-Red Army Member Sentenced for Hijacking
A former member of Japan’s Red Army terrorist group was sentenced to 12 years in prison today for hijacking a plane to North Korea in 1970, court officials said.
A spokeswoman for the Tokyo District Court announced the sentencing of Yoshimi Tanaka, 53, who was arrested in 1996 in Cambodia. He was trying to flee to Vietnam in a North Korean Embassy car. He was later extradited to Japan from neighboring Thailand.
Tanaka belonged to the Red Army at the time and was one of the accused hijackers. The hijacking, the first in Japan, prompted Japan to enact a law setting a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the crime.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
