Red Army Faction fugitives who hijacked a Japan Airlines jetliner to Pyongyang in 1970 released a statement Wednesday calling on Tokyo to set up talks for their possible return to Japan.
The faxed statement, written by faction leader Takahiro Konishi, 57, in North Korea titled "Our Views on Returning," follows his Monday interview with Kyodo News in which he said his wife and daughter are set to return to Japan sometime in September along with four other children of the hijacking fugitives.
"As we are characterized as agents, public opinion claiming North Korea is a country that supports terrorism has been formed and antagonistic feelings (toward North Korea) have been stirred," the statement says.
"What we are most afraid of is that our presence in North Korea will be used as a reason for attacking a terrorist-supporting state, leading Japan in the wrong direction," the statement adds.
On allegations that some of the fugitives were involved with North Korean agents in the abduction of Japanese to the North, the statement claims: "We have no memory of having done so and feel that wicked political designs are behind (such charges). . . . We must prove that we are innocent."
The statement also touched on the Tokyo District Court's sentencing in February of Red Army Faction figure Yoshimi Tanaka to a 12-year prison term for his role in the 1970 hijacking.
The statement said the sentence was too severe because Tanaka has shown remorse for the misguided beliefs he held over 30 years ago.
The March 1970 hijacking involved nine Red Army Faction members, who seized the Tokyo-Fukuoka jetliner, with 138 passengers and crew members aboard, and eventually forced the crew to fly to Pyongyang.