A group of Japanese airplane hijackers now living in North Korea have decided to return their wives and children to Japan in the light of deteriorating ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang, informed sources said Saturday.
A total of 22 wives and children have already returned to Japan since 2001, when the hijackers and their family members first showed willingness to return to their homeland, but the move has been suspended since October 2004 as bilateral talks over the abduction issue involving Japanese nationals came to a standstill.
The latest decision was made prior to the resumption of bilateral talks in Beijing that are to start Thursday.
Among the nine members who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970, three have died, two were arrested in Japan and Cambodia, and the remaining four are in North Korea.
Most of their Japanese wives, who joined them in North Korea later, and their North Korean-born children have already returned to Japan, while two wives, a group supporter and three children are living in the North with the remaining members, according to the sources.
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