Son of Japanese hijacker arrives in Japan from N. Korea

TOKYO, Jan. 13 Kyodo -
The 14-year-old son of one of the Japanese men who hijacked a Japan Airlines
airplane and defected to North Korea in 1970 arrived in Japan on Tuesday via
Beijing.

The boy, the last of such children to move to Japan from North Korea, arrived
at Kansai international airport, accompanied by a Japanese supporter of the
hijacker's family who traveled to Pyongyang last week to meet him there.
The boy is the son of Moriaki Wakabayashi, 61, who is on an international
wanted list for hijacking the plane.
The teenager was born in North Korea and does not have a Japanese passport. The
supporter has obtained a special traveling permit from the Japanese Embassy in
Beijing for him to make the trip possible.
The supporter told reporters at the airport in Osaka Prefecture that the boy
has come to Japan at this time so that he can transfer to a junior high school
as a second-year student and prepare for senior high school entrance
examinations.
He is scheduled to live with his older brother who is already in Japan, the
supporter said.
Family members of the nine hijackers began returning to Japan in 2001.
Those remaining in North Korea are four of the nine hijackers still living in
the country and two wives who are wanted for alleged involvement in the
abduction of Japanese nationals to North Korea.
The supporter said he will convey to the Japanese government the willingness of
the six to talk with the government promptly about their intention to return to
Japan.
The nine Red Army Faction members forced a JAL Boeing 727 on a domestic flight
to fly to Pyongyang in March 1970 in the first hijacking incident in Japan.
Three of them have died, and two later returned to Japan and were convicted.
==Kyodo