Transcript for:
Little Japan

bada bing badao there is this fascinating little town they call it little Japan it's a gated community but it kind of functions like a gated neighborhood each house inside is identical they're made of concrete surrounded by pine trees you can see parts of a river peeking through the woods but more importantly beyond that you can see this massive gate peeking through the tree line it's more like a like a wall it's unclear if they're keeping someone out or keeping everybody in there's patches of garden where there's these bright flowers that are blooming I mean it's like a mini Paradise the buildings the houses they each have several rooms there's even a gathering building for everyone in the neighborhood to hang out in all the residents if they want to get together they have an entire building dedicated for dining meeting they have a movie theater a massive sauna house a library each house is equipped with massive beautiful chandeliers in every single room heated floors and each house has almost the same identical pieces of artwork hanging in every single room they're completely isolated away from the rest of the world they have everything they need inside this gated neighborhood there's dedicated buildings for staff members on the outskirts of this neighborhood they have a team of housekeepers for the families within the gates they do the laundry they make the beds they clean clean the entire house for all the houses in here there's private chefs private chauffeurs lined up waiting in like a fleet of Mercedes benzes there's private tutors private teachers for the children within the gates they have an electrician full-time just making sure the backup generator is on in case the power goes out how many houses nine nine families that's it on staff they also have a nurse a doctor a nursery teacher for any young children that might be born within the nine families there's helpers tending to every single whim everyone in that Community has a purpose which is to serve the nine families that live within the gates nine families isolated inside this gated community I mean the private chefs cook them three meals a day on the weekend sometimes the wives will actually let the chefs go rest in their quarters because one of their favorite activities is attempting to bake that's what they do for fun not out of necessity but for fun it's like a royal family with more staff members tending to their needs than there are family members it's a lot there's even this whole shop like a little store with a clerk a full-time clerk that manages the stocking of the shelves but nobody pays the residents walk in do their grocery shopping and walk out if there's something that they want that's not in the store they just let the clerk know hey I need this next week this sounds like um um the you know W Vision the fake Town yes and within a few days the items are delivered it's like a paradise the only stipulation the Only Rule is that the nine families if they want to leave their little palacial residents using one of the cars and the drivers they have to get permission they call it little Japan because the nine families inside this little town are Japanese but it exists maybe 40 minutes outside the capital of of North Korea it's in North Korea it's in North Korea the residents in the gates are not Japanese or North Korean royalty they're not even diplomats they're not politically powerful they are plain hijackers they hijacked a plane and flew it into North Korea and now they are considered the Kim family's secret weapon [Music] we would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for rotten mango to support the nonprofit a light 120 million people face displacement due to conflict that has taken their home country's hostage most notably the civilians of Ukraine Sudan and Gaza a light serves people people who face the arduous journey of displacement through services and programs that are constantly evolving to address their needs each year they serve 3.5 million people from over 20 different countries so as always full show notes are available at Rotten mango podcast.com and with that being said let's get into it Tokyo University is considered one of the most prestigious institutions in Japan inside one of the classrooms on campus there's something weird happening I mean class is not in session there is no lecture to be had but the door is closed locked the lights are on inside nine guys are sweating they're rearranging the classroom okay we need two rows of three so three chairs to my left three chairs to my right and make rows out of it okay so I want like 20 rows keep the center empty so we can walk up and down like some sort of aisle it's an odd mix of people in this classroom the oldest is 27 years old the youngest is not even old enough to attend Tokyo University he's 16 years old he's in high school some of them are University students others graduated already one of them has long hair and is a basist for a psychedelic rock band he plays the bass for this pretty famous rock band they're not even like underground it's a very interesting odd ball mix of people but even weirder than that is the fact that none of them know each other's real names or ages like money Heist yes they agreed it would be best if they only went by their pseudonyms fake names that they all picked out for themselves when they first got together as a group once the chairs are set up just the way they need classes in session okay who's going to walk down the aisle first they all pull out their knives the chairs are lined up to look like the inside of an airplane this is how they're going to practice hijacking the plane and flying it off course into Cuba Cuba Cuba I that was North Korea Cuba and the captain is flying over Mount Fuji we're on the plane now the Captain is staring at this young guy in the cockpit wait we're on the plane or we're in the classroom no we're in the plane now oh they practice like two times okay the captain is flying over Mount Fuji and he's staring at the young guy in the cockpit and the energy is just very tense he tells him unfortunately that's not happening what do you mean that's not happening I mean I'm not going to fly to Cuba I cannot do that you you can't just change the course and expect it to work you can't go from having point point a being a city in Japan point B being another city in Japan and suddenly you want to fly to Cuba do you know what type of aircraft this even is it was a Boeing 727 even the longer range versions of this plane have a maximum range of only flying about maybe under perfect weather conditions about 3100 mil 3,100 mil the distance from Japan to Cuba is closer to 7,400 miles so only halfway yeah and they would need to make multiple stops to refuel because that's under perfect weather conditions so depending on the wind conditions the route that's taken they would have to stop a minimum of two to three times to refuel is that what you guys want to do right now otherwise we're not getting to Cuba the plane is going to literally drop into the ocean into the water because it's going to run out of gas is that what you want the captain is looking at the nine college aged guys with Samurai swords standing on the plane 40,000 ft in the air and nothing is going according to their plan not a single one of them considered all of this when they boarded the plane this was not part of the plan they had thought through everything else before all of this what they were going to wear they're all dressed very smartly with briefcases of explosives with them they've got knives pipe bombs samurai swords pistols I mean none of them book their tickets together cuz they thought that would be suspicious they only sat nearby one another none of them spoke to each other getting on the plane prior to boarding nothing they all got on the plane and waited patiently for the signal 20 minutes into the flight ding the fasten seat belt sign has been turned off the flight attendants are getting ready to hand out heated towels to the passengers and a man near the front of the plane gets up from his seat and it looks like he's been waiting for this moment maybe he's trying to use the restroom he walks to the very front of the aisle and instead of opening the door to the restroom he turns around to stare at the PA passengers and slowly pulls out this shiny glimmering reflecting stick it's a samurai sword from where inside of his like trench coat stay calm and I will let you live some people scream others in the back they don't even know what's going on they don't even hear this guy so some of them are likely thinking 120 people one guy we can knock this guy out Samurai swear or not let's just tackle him but before they can even do that one by one more Men start standing up from different parts of the plane and they're all holding samurai swords knives pipe bombs in total there are nine of them and just something in their eyes you don't want to test them they look very very serious they look like they got a plan and that plan is now completely falling apart when the captain and the co-pilot are telling the hijackers Cuba is not happening unless you want to stop multiple times to refuel it's not even an option didn't we talk about some uh plane hijacking back in the and everyone likeed to go to Cuba right yes because it's yeah they call it like the Havana it it's a communist country so they think that that yeah anyway once they get there they're good yeah okay they all go to Cuba and then uh people started realizing actually we could go anywhere that we wanted and they start going to all different sorts of random destinations there was a golden age of skyjacking where skyjackers once a week in the US a US Airline was being taken hostage yeah yeah for the span of like 5 years yeah wow so the hijackers they're quiet for a second cuz they have to come up with a new plan they're not going to Cuba anymore and that plan is you will fly to Pyongyang North Korea if you do not fly us into North Korea right now we will detonate the bombs the fly departed from Japan Japan and it was going to another city in Japan right and now they want to go to North Korea so to show the captain how serious they are they take the microphone and they scream to the entire plane this plane has been hijacked we are going to North Korea we have explosives if you try and resist us we will blow up the entire plane the only problem with their new plan is North Korea doesn't know they're coming and there's no way to quickly communicate that to North Korea an unannounced commercial airline from Japan who has zero diplomatic ties to North Korea flying into their airspace with 122 passengers seven crew members that's not a good plan that's a death wish the captain tells the hijackers if they want to get into North Korea they're going to have to make a pit stop to refuel there's no way again we were trying to fly between two Japanese cities we're not trying to fly to a different country that takes a lot more fuel the plane touches down in Fukuoka a gas truck pulls up and starts pumping gasoline onto the plane and everybody's on edge even the people out outside the plane everyone at the airport is high alert before the plane even touch you down it sent out this massive emergency request to air traffic control at 7:53 a.m. this is Japan Airlines flight 351 Fukuoka Landing has been decided skyjackers have bombs they say they will detonate the bombs if their attempt fails absolutely no one may approach the aircraft while we refuel we will continue to North Korea after refueling we request maps and directions but it was a lie the whole thing was a lie when the few approved Personnel open up the tank to fill it up the gas tank on the plane they realized it's pretty full they could have flown to North Korea they had more than enough fuel but the pilots they decided to take their chances because the hijackers didn't even know how much fuel was on the plane so they're like they don't know how a plane works we got to land in Fukuoka and hopefully the authorities can make some sort of deal while they're on Japanese soil while they're on the ground and not 40 th000 fet up in the sky but imagine like someone hijacked the plane and went to out of all places North Korea the passengers were very upset now the authorities they're trying I'm sure they are but also news stations journalists show up which only triggers the hijackers now all of Japan are watching this hijacking they've even dubbed it the Yogo kidnappers so back then Japanese Airlines used to have nicknames I'm not sure if they still do but each airliner had a nickname like boats so they would name each plane this one was named Yogo hence the Yogo hijackers now the hijackers they start getting angsty from seeing all the reporters the authorities outside they also don't know how long it takes to fuel a plane but they imagine it doesn't take 2 and 1 half hours which is how long they've been parked there connected to the gas truck now side note for this specific aircraft it should have taken closer to 40 minutes if not less theoretically under ideal conditions a Boeing 727 can be refilled in about 20 minutes so 40 minutes or less but this has taken the past 2 and 1 half hours but they and they have no idea how long it takes no but they're getting stressed 1:40 p.m. the door to the plane opens and everybody outside on the tarmac freezes they have no idea what's going to happen the hijackers could open fire into the crowd for all they know they could throw a pipe bomb outside at them and a figure appears at the door and then another one and another one and they're so confused what's going on right now 23 children and elderly and anyone who required medicine that they did not have or medical attention are released from the plane was there like a negotiation going on or no oh so it seems like the hijackers were annoyed that the kids kept crying and asking for food and then they were annoyed so they would have to send the moms with them and then they were upset with all the people complaining about how they needed medication they're like oh what an inconvenience to my day and sent them two and a half hours there's no communication no they're just like get US maps that's it we're going to go to North Korea and you can't stop us or we're going to bomb this place there there's no negotiation they're not trying to negotiate anything they're like we're going and there's not really anything you can do about it so when the 23rd child walks out the door shuts behind them locks again there's still 99 people on that plane Captain ashida is staring at his map that he received from Japanese authorities this is the one thing that the hijackers allowed to be hand delivered to the door because nobody on the plane has ever been to North Korea the pilots never even flew over North Korea their airspace is considered not very friendly they have no idea where the airport even is in North Korea they requested a map and this this is the map that the authorities gave them it's like a sick joke it looks like the type of map where I imagine even the maps in Middle School textbooks are more detailed than this you know the world map the big ones where the countries are just different color blobs and it looks like someone took a pen and traced the outline of the Korean Peninsula drew a line in the middle and wrote North Korea on top and then South Korea on the bottom that was the map they got that's the map oh there's a little dot that says pyang they just put a dock that's it yeah they didn't even give coordinations nothing they didn't give anything they say that way yeah they said uh just like do you know where the Korean Peninsula is yeah it's probably somewhere there so that was the map they received is this because they truly didn't know I think that they did not have a air map that the pilots could use oh I imagine they thought I mean regardless of the map it's not going to be helpful for them but the pilots are still kind of pissed I mean it feels like they're playing games right now this is what the authorities give them so that they can cross over the DMZ are they joking right now DMZ the demilitarized zone so that's the line between South and North Korea now there are a few places in the world that you just don't fly over they're literally called no fly zones most Pilots know that it's extremely important to not fly over a no fly zone there's a lot of tools that they check before they head into the skies to make sure that nobody is flying even accidentally where they're not supposed to I doubt that Pilots could memorize all the nfly zones by heart because they're constantly changing there are temporary nfly zones that get updated and then removed and then new ones that get added to the list permanently so for all sorts of reasons a noly Zone could be for security purposes Environmental Protection preservation of culture and preservation of historical sites so to give you an idea sometimes they feel seemingly very random for example no aircraft can fly within 3,000 ft of Walt Disney World in Florida or Disneyland in California why for safety reasons cuz big crowds they don't want anything happening now there are more obvious no fly zones for national security purposes Washington DC has has one of the most restricted airspaces in the entire world it it's pretty common knowledge amongst Pilots that the airspace above Washington DC is pretty much a no-o and it's pretty much common knowledge that the airspace above the DMZ the demilitarized zone aka the border between South Korea and North Korea is one of the most restricted airspaces in the entire world probably more than Washington DC I would rather bet my chances and fly over Washington DC because I imagine the us fighter jets would scope you out first and figure out what's going on I feel the DMZ they'll shoot you down first and then figure out what's going on the flight to North Korea is very tense everyone on the plane has no idea what's going to happen they could be shot down I mean when the plane was first hijacked it's oh the airline the pilots the authorities they're all going to work in tandem to help save us so because Sky jackings were more common a lot of the airlines considered it a part of the business they would have like a pot of cash ready for hijackers and once they get that pot of cash they stop hijacking the plane they're like okay well I don't need all these passengers that's what they thought was going to happen when was this happening again 1970 ah so that was the golden age right yes this is before a TSA pre-check or TSA this is before any sort of air airport security you could walk on and smoke on a plane so when the plane is parked in Fukuoka it is the authorities that are surely going to help negotiate them out of there that's what they're thinking but now now they're up in the sky heading towards North Korea and their fate is now in the hands of a man who is notorious for sending people and three generations of their loved ones into labor camps for no reason they're just going to bet their life on Kim s the former dictator the supreme leader of North Korea was that kin jong's dad or Grandpa Grandpa oh the original yeah the original MH Japan can't even help them if that's the case they're not even on diplomatically neutral or even tense terms they have zero diplomatic relations they don't even know how to call North Korea really the odds are not in their favor right now they fly across the DMZ line and the whole plane is silent you do not have to be a pilot to understand the implications of something like this the only one talking on the entire plane is the pilot repeatedly almost begging the control tower to respond him pongyang pongyang please respond pongyang this is Ja a351 pongyang please respond everyone is expecting to get shot down they've been holding their breaths but instead a voice comes onto the radio this is Pyongyang tune your radio to contact frequency 1341 MC repeat this is pongyang tune your radio to contact frequency 1341 MC the thick Korean accented man's voice slowly guides them to landing and eventually they do notice while they're trying to land a plane starts flying noticeably close to the airplane then another one shows up they're getting way too close to the plane now there's two showing up and they're not just regular planes they're fighter jets and the fighter jets start escorting the plane to the airport guiding the plane on where to fly well okay guiding is quite a nice word it's more like forcing the plane to fly a certain way it's like if you get sandwiched between two massive cars on the highway and they force you to drive to a certain destination you could call it guiding but is it really a choice here the whole plane Shakes as it's Landing onto the tarmac and the hijackers are smiling one of them grabs the microphone finally we have arrived in North Korea we have imposed on you we've burdened you as passengers but we will soon be able to release you welcome to North Korea the hijackers look out the window at their new Global revolutionary base that's how they feel we'll get into it they are all Japanese right yes uh most of the passengers are Japanese there is actually two American American Nationals on there wow there's a higher up executive from Pepsi on there as well as a Roman Catholic priest and the hijackers are Japanese Japanese and they're very excited to be in North Korea so excited okay yeah very exciting okay I'm not sure what they expected since none of them had ever been to North Korea nor did they even plan to go to North Korea they were planning to go to Cuba but they start glancing around it's not bad I mean there's North Korean Flags hanging all over the airport it's not as busy as most airports but that makes sense considering it's North Korea it's speculated that pongyang has an average of one flight per day whether that's inbound or outbound which is honestly more than I thought it would be but compared to the busiest airports in the world so Atlanta International Airport being one of them sees an average of 2700 arrivals and departures daily 2700 that's 7 and a half years of North Korea's flight schedules done in a single day and that's just one of Us's international airports they look outside the window and there's just a few planes parked on the tarmac outside it's nothing like the airports in Japan the North Korean Flags they're all hanging in the breeze and there's rows of North Korean soldiers standing there awaiting their arrival their backs are straight it looks like they have a stick up their shirts military is one thing North Korean military is a whole other game they're standing at attention just lined up in these neat rows there's a group of 15 girls holding flower bouquet and singing the North Korean national anthem and the hijackers are screaming up and down the aisle we're in pyang we've arrived a voice comes over the giant intercom loudspeaker system at the airport this is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea North Korea you're all welcome here please disembark from the aircraft now we all welcome who are against Japanese imperialism they open the plane door and suddenly one of the high hijacker screams close the door close it they slam the door shut and nobody knows what's going on right now even some of the passengers had gotten up to get their stuff from the overhead bins it's like okay I guess we're in North Korea now let's get off but the hijacker screams close the door now what's going on look something's not right look outside do you see something strange the hijackers pressed their faces up against the window and they do see a few things that feel odd I mean obviously they didn't know what to expect coming into this none of them had been to North Korea but this was just questionable here's what they noticed one they see a foreign car parked a little ways away it's not right in their face but it is a foreign car which is strange but you know what the Kim family their vehicle of choice is typically the Mercedes Benz they like the maybacks which cost anywhere between half a million dollar to a million dollar the ones that they get I didn't know they they drive around in foreign cars but okay yeah they um all their fleets for the elite e that the Kim family likes are Mercedes and Mercedes even investigated because they do not import to North Korea so they found out uh it would go through either China or Russia and it they would never be purchased directly by North Korea from like a dealership obviously so it's not like North Korea has no foreign cars just not many without the Kim family's approval two they look around the airstrip and they start counting the planes like I said it's not as many as most airports but it's still kind of a few you none of them have any commercial airline logos or anything so it doesn't seem like a busy airport filled with Travelers getting in and out but still it suddenly feels like a lot of planes for some reason and three they see a black man now North Korea is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the entire world they have a very very very very tiny limited number of ethnic minorities some small tiny tiny groups of Chinese and Japanese people live in North Korea which I don't even know if you could consider that an ethnic minority in North Korea but other than that internationally it's known that other than incidents like where the US soldier crossed the DMZ and went into North Korea that we talked about in the Auto episode there's almost zero notable presence of black communities in North Korea maybe a diplomat perhaps that's what they're thinking perhaps that's a diplomat or a diplomat's son or a diplomat's husband what was he doing just hanging out on the tarmac sometimes North Korea does let in businessmen from other countries typically mainly from China and Russia but maybe but they try to get a better look at the man and they see what he's wearing and now they have questions the black man is seen wearing a US military uniform everything else can maybe be explained away but there would be zero reason for a US military official to be in North Korea unless they're dead if you wake up one day with no memory of anything you you have no idea what's happened and somebody tells you hi good morning welcome you're North Korea you do not believe them because I was I was in America yesterday what do you mean what is the one thing that you ask them for that is reasonable for them to get to you in the next 5 minutes I can prove to you without a shadow of doubt this is indeed North Korea the hijackers grabbed the radio to talk to the police outside is this North Korea if so can you bring us a giant picture of your leader Kim bring it to us now whoa that is that is very true everybody should have that handy mhm it should be hanging not the airport honestly uhhuh there's silence this is a military base so there is no picture of Kimia s here but we will bring you one soon because you arrived so suddenly we were unable to prepare to welcome you properly the whole thing isn't making sense the lead hijacker opens the airplane door and shouts down at the bus driver waiting to take them into the airport and he screams in English is this ho the bus driver is alone in the bus no military men near him nothing he panics and responds in English yes what they closed the door because what the hell this is South Korea what I told you from the beginning didn't I that the whole hijacking had been a lie and the truth is the plane was not able to go to Cuba without refueling multip MP times that was the truth they did not need to land in Fukuoka to refuel but they did authorities use this time to collaborate between Japan South Korea and potentially the United States and they quickly scramble to figure out a plan because they can't stop the plane now they can't storm it the hijackers have explosives but they can't just let the plane full of civilians fly straight into North Korea so they need to devise up a plan within an hour they make Kimo airport which is the smaller a airport in not inan but Kimo they make it look like a North Korean airport what in the world the amount of coordination that it takes is astronomical they have to get most of the commercial airliners off the tarmac all of the international flights all the South Korean planes with Korean Air aiana airlines they got to get it off any truck with a logo that's South Korean or Western because a lot of the fueling trucks they have the Shell logo on the side has to be gone they have to cover up all advertisements because there is no advertising in North Korea they have to procure North Korean Flags swap out all the South Korean flags for North Korean Flags they have to take down all the international flags that some airports have like Kingo did and they have to do all of this they have to procure North Korean military uniforms dress everyone up in them they even went as far to get a bunch of girls in uniform to sing the national anthem of North Korea this was not an easy feat but they forgot there was American Soldier yeah because the American Military were involved they obviously tried to hide the people that weren't obviously Korean looking or didn't resemble a North Korean but um it was hard there's a lot of coordination the map that Japanese Authority gave the pilots was intentionally bad so that they wouldn't rely on the map and they would rely on the radio the man that intercepted the radio with the thick Korean accent that said this is pongyang tune into this radio it was a South Korean military man they did cross the DMZ though they did cross and the the man the South Korean man panicked and was giving them directions to slowly U-turn without making it obvious back into South Korea South Korean fighter jets appeared and then guided them into Kimo what a plan within the hour they managed to trick the hijackers that they were Landing in North Korea but now the ruse is up they know and now the negotiations shall begin estimates show that about $200 million worth of US currency meaning us cash in circulation right now being used is fake is counterfeit to be fair there's about $2.3 trillion in circulation right now so the odds of you having a fake bill by accident are pretty low but it's never zero because there's what's known as super fakes super notes they are made with the same Hightech color shifting ink that the US $100 bill is made from they print on the same precise composition of fibers because did you know the US bills are not printed on paper it's a mixture of cotton and linen that's what the bills are made of the correct blend requires a very special paper making machine that is nearly impossible to purchase and then to get the formula down pat very difficult the Engravings are typically even better than what's produced in the US these supernotes most people won't even be able to tell the difference between a supernote and a real $100 bill that little pen that they give you at work to check for bills at least that's what they gave me I thought they were foolproof they're not they're not going to catch this you know you put it up to the light and you look at the Hologram or the little transparency that's not going to catch this for supernotes it takes sophisticated forensic analysis for most of them to be confirmed as counterfeit currency North Korea is allegedly the biggest counterfeit of US currency so they call it like a two birds one stone allegedly is make a lot of money from the counterfeit bills for the North Koreans but it's also to diminish the US dollar it's it's almost um some people from the US Treasury have considered it an act of war in Thailand the police are starting to notice more and more us $100 bills stacking up on their desk they're all from the banks super fakes counterfeit they're all supernotes the Thai police start their investigations and it leads them to this small inconspicuous little office in Cambodia they raid the facility and ultimately they arrest a man in connection with the highquality counterfeit us bills in circulation and the man claims he's a North Korean Diplomat which originally makes sense North Korea like I said was still probably known for creating near-perfect supernotes I mean this makes a lot of sense right they're allegedly bringing in tens of millions of dollars a year from making counterfeit US dollar bills North Korea denies it of course but the US has tracked millions of dollars worth of supernotes being smuggled into the us and it all traces back eventually to North Korea the man in the office with the supernotes claims to be a North Korean Diplomat but they all know that's not true they run his Prince he's not North Korean he's Japanese his real name is Yoshimi Tanaka he was one of the members of the hijacking group of Japan Airlines 351 the hijackers had not been heard from for the past 20 years everyone thought they were either dead or held captive in North Korea what the hell is this man doing in Thailand this is 20 years after the hijacking there is no set number or value to human life until you're a hostage negotiator then suddenly there's a very real price for Life the proposed deal that authorities give the plane hijackers is quite simple one man's life in exchange for all the others let all the hostages go let all all the civilians go and we will give you one man in exchange it's simple the hijackers are like this man better be special he is the vice minister of transport of Japan release the hostages and take the vice minister of transportation to North Korea that is the deal one person for a 100 people because North Korea would probably be more interested in a politician M okay [Music] I don't know if you guys 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overflowing and there is nothing they can do to escape this scent and there is no air circulation the men have been tied up to their chairs everyone who's not tied up even if they're strangers are having to help wipe the sweat off their brows at first everybody was calm they were ready to be accommodating so that they can get out with their lives but now now they're getting anxious they're not even allowed to eat they all scarfed down the food that's already on the plane and when the authorities offered to bring a new food for the passengers the hijackers is denied they're scared that the food is laced with sleeping drugs that would knock them out give the authorities enough time to break in and free the passengers and arrest the nine hijackers the passengers are starting to feel the heat the lead hijacker looks at the others the passengers have reached their limit we have to do something which is the exact same conversation happening outside of the plane with Japan South Korea and allegedly the CIA there are a lot of higher ups with their own ways of wanting to handle this gathered in the same room from Japan you you have the vice minister of political Affairs but the vice minister of Transport members from the Ministry of Transport as well as the ambassador of Japan for South Korea they're present because the hijackers like I said are all Japanese and it's a Japanese commercial airliner and most of the passengers are Japanese Nationals but because the hostage plane is now on South Korean soil South Korea has a bunch of military units defense minister Transportation Minister interior Minister all present then the US allegedly gets involved now South Korea B US troops arrive at the scene that is a known fact some sources alleg that the CIA got involved in the negotiations because well the US military does typically get involved in most things South Korea related they do have like a treaty and it's it's a whole thing but also there are two American Nationals on board like I said the Pepsi executive and the Roman Catholic priest so it appears that them Landing in South Korea was coordinated by the three groups in record time within the hour but now now they're all stressed and now that the plane is on South Korean soil they can see the plane they can see the hostages the hijackers are pissed that this is not Kim's land now what now suddenly all these people have different interests of course the ultimate interest for all parties is the safety of the hostages but South Korea knows that the whole world is watching this and if this doesn't go the way it's supposed to South Korea could be seen as an easy target for hijacking and terrorist groups the US likely has a pride thing here if the CIA is involved which people are speculating they are then they better get a deal done because really the CIA can't take care of a hostage plane most powerful intelligence agency in the world and you can't even talk a few University students off a Boeing Japan likely has the worst situation in their hands their citizens are the hijackers most of the passengers are Japanese citizens but now they're in another country causing an international situation nobody's having a good time here they try walking through all sorts of scenarios okay let's try ambushing them at night turn off all the airport lights so that they can't see anything outside we force entry but that could result in too many casualties they could start blowing up the plane they thought about lacing the food that they tried to send in with sleeping pills but again that would result that could result in innocent casualties the people on the plane are going to be eating the food the nine hijackers the odds that some of them don't eat the food and take turns keeping watch is very high the authorities are doing anything they can to scrape together a single coherent thought an idea but all of it leads to one conclusion there is no way to get inside this plane without risking the passengers inside the plane an older man stands up he throws his hands in the air and screams kill me then if you're going to kill me just do it now the leader of the hijacker smirks and starts slowly walking up to the old man he gets in his face if you tell me to kill you I'll kill you another hostage taker walks up to the leader and calmly hands him a sword the leader takes it without even looking at him he never breaks eye contact with the old man all the way until the old man slowly calmly sits back down without saying another word the authorities outside are actually quite impressed by this whole situation by how long the hijackers are holding out they're not giving in not even in the slightest just listening to their voices it doesn't appear that they're losing steam either they sound just as determined as ever why are they parked there for 50 hours if they're going to go to North Korea they need fuel it takes 50 hours no South Korea is refusing to let them fuel oh see a lot of it also has to do with posturing I think perhaps a lot of the authorities did care for the civilians involved I would hope so but knowing the way politics Works in most countries including ours the United States I think they cared to a degree I think what they cared most about though is that the whole world is watching and if they let this plane of innocent civilians go into North Korea the message that it sends of where North Korea's power is in relation to Japan and South Korea is going to be disastrous it's definitely a political mind game and I think the passengers are being swept Tama the leader of the group tells the authorities we are determined to go to North Korea determined to do everything necessary to get there and receive military training eventually we will return across the sea to Japan to start a revolution we are determined we are going to do this no matter how high the walls between the nations may stand the Japanese ambassador to Korea tries to reason with the hijackers do not make light of your lives you are all still so young you should think about the future and not act so rashly we cannot trust the words of some lying Diplomat and do the North Koreans know that you're coming silence we have not made contact more silence because they're going to go in to North Korea without a plan without knowing about Kimi s if he's going to open their arms to them or if he's going to kill them the Ambassador gets stopped by his assistant and all the Japanese official almost in tandem stop what they're doing and listen they have all just been informed North Korea has made contact with Japan what again this is so incredibly rare they have no diplomatic relations they don't have ambassadors for each other the message is sent by North Korea the the safety of the aircraft through our airspace is guaranteed all aboard the aircraft will be treated humanely and the aircraft will be returned North Korea is willing to take the hijackers in what does that even mean what about the hostages exactly what does that even mean yeah Japan has to do something if North Korea assures them that the flight is going to be safe then the best choice would to let them go to North Korea right I mean them as in the hijackers not the civilians they cannot let 99 civilians go into North Korea that's crazy the negotiations are still on one life in exchange for all the rest take the vice minister of Transport with you into North Korea and give up all the civilians it's easier to control one person than it is to control 99 people then and only then can the plane get refueled and head straight into Pyongyang but also the guy who's the minister of transp Transport yes you think that's like him willingly uh yes he offered himself up and um I do think that there is some context to be had here in America I think it's a little bit different in places like Japan and I would say a lot more of the Eastern countries it's almost his career is over unless he does something oh this is his basically his his fault you saying yes they're going to say it's his fault for not protecting his constituents wow so he he's never going to get reelected his career is over this is a failure on his part he let iten so unless he off9 lives is already on him yes whereas I think maybe in places like the US it wouldn't be on these people it' just be like okay you either handled it well or poorly but it wouldn't necessarily be their fault got it that hijackers did this but in Japan it it might be considered his fault to a degree yes yes the social pressure and is very very strong he offers himself up so the hijackers they finally agree and after 4 days and three nights on the play parked in to they finally agreed to let the hostages go surprisingly on the way out many of the hostages would wish the hijackers the best of luck on their mission one of the hostages would later say as individuals they were very polite and very pleasant companions the hijackers were part of the quote Red Army which is a militant subfacet organization called the Communist league in Japan so to put it simply without getting too political because I'm truly not at all well-versed in Japanese politics not even a little bit but their goals were overthrow the Japanese government inite a Communist Revolution in Japan contribute to a global Communist Revolution establish International bases for other revolutions to pull resources from those were their main goals and the way that they were going to achieve these goals was not in the form of winning elections getting votes they were going to rob banks to fund their missions attack police stations and government agencies including the prime minister's personal residence they're actually responsible or partly responsible for a massive Massacre they've taken 50 innocent people hostage before for the purpose of negotiating to get fellow members out of prison they were able to get a $6 million Ransom from the Japanese government after holding another group of people hostage they've set off car bombs that have killed multiple innocent civilians injuring multiple innocent civilians they've attacked embassies primarily us and British embassies they're categorized as a highly violent group to get what they they want wow so that has nothing to do with the actual party this is like the subf faction the militant subgroup they're very extreme the whole point of even hijacking a plane was to get to Cuba to get military training they wanted highly specialized militarized arms training so that they can hold revolutions on a global scale and likely so that they can pull off more of these deadly missions with more efficiency which is terrifying but one of the passengers the hosp said in that moment when you see the nine of them screaming up and down jumping together in Joy we're we're going to pongyang we're going to Pyongyang this is the new base for our International Revolution all the passengers could think was they're just so young wow the hijackers would even sit around and tell the passengers about their beliefs in a sense trying to convince them to believe what they believe and even at the end food was brought in by authorities and at the last meal the hijackers did a toast and said it's time for us to part ways we wish to convey our deepest gratitudes to you thank you everyone sorry for being such a burden let's have a little farewell celebration we will fight to the end on behalf of the world's oppressed we will persist and do our best until the end we have caused you great unhappiness but we hope you understand that we did it because we love Japan and we want to make Japan a better place for all everyone cheered I guess you have to cheer yeah right 2:27 p.m. the door to the plane opens for the last time in so the news reporters from three different countries are standing near the plane military officials with snipers pointed at the door are stationed across the airport a woman in a kimono appears at the door a flight attendant she takes the first step down the plane stairs then a man in a suit comes out behind her and slowly one by one the passengers start making their way down the stairs and the minute that they touch the ground off the steps the reporters start cheering getting louder with each person that steps onto the ground when about half the hostages are released the whole tarmac goes silent because this was all agreed upon between the two parties the hijackers and the authorities at that moment a hijacker appears at the top one of the nine and then I'm just going to call the vice Minister um just the vice Minister from now on but he is the vice minister of Transport you get it the vice Minister shows up at the bottom they both stare at each other yamamura said this before climbing up the stairs he said to tell you the truth my legs were shaking the hijacker takes one step Vice Minister takes one step they do this slowly one step at a time until they have this tense moment where they both step on at the same Step at the center of the stairs so they do this because the hijackers were scared they're going to let off most of the hostages and then the vice Minister would not board now the authorities are like well if we let the vice Minister board early what if you just close the door and take half the hostages and the vice Minister yeah so that's why they're sending out a hijacker as a placeholder what is that person going to do he's going to go back onto the plane once the rest of the hostages are released oh so it's like an insurance policy for both sides y y okay now they have this very tense moment where they both step onto the same Step at the middle of the stairs and then they walk past you each other and they're listening from behind and when they hear the other party take a step they take a step and now the hijackers they have one of their own outside the plane and the government officials have one of their own inside the plane that's how you exchange hostages once the vice minister is tied up in a seat most of the other hostages are let out one by one until the very last one he appears at the top and the hijacker appears at the bottom and they do the same thing so by the end of it all the hostages are out and the hijacker and the vice Minister are back in you say the vice Minister came back out no no no the last hostage oh the last host oh does that make sense so half the hostages then they exchange a vice Minister for the hijacker then the last hostage and the hijacker swap do a swap yeah wow so another very tense meeting happens and when they step on the same step in the middle of the stairs the hostage looks at the hostage taker and says take care of yourself okay keep a sharp eye keep a sharp eye the hijacker says okay until we meet again they both smile and watch each other walk away so polite huh yeah the hostage exchange was now complete the plane positioned itself and 83 hours after being hijacked they were now departing for North Korea some of the hospital es even took out their handkerchiefs to wave them at the plane that was flying away what about the pilots the pilots are in there yeah do we know how many two pilots and I think another crew member so they still have three more hostage yes yes for everyone else the authorities watching them taking off getting higher and higher in the sky it's a grim moment mainly because nobody knows nobody knows what's going to happen in North Korea but also nobody knows what's going to happen to the vice minister and nobody knows that all the weapons that the hijackers were threatening them with were just toys it's fake knife fake knives fake bombs fake everything everything was fake it was all a lie like I said a young woman in Japan is sitting in front of a clairvoyant she is desperate for some guidance at this point she's felt this feeling of loss for the past few years of her life and it just won't go away and The Clairvoyant tells her soon before you turn 30 your fortune will change you will find love you will get married yes but How likely even is that for the past almost decade okay no more like 8 years her Fortune has been decidedly okay her boyfriend the one she met while working as a nurse at Tokyo University the one that she fell in love with almost instantly it was so sudden she said the minute that she laid eyes on him she was ready to trust him with her entire life her boyfriend that guy he's in North Korea and he hasn't written a single letter she has no idea what he's been doing if he's moved on if he still thinks about her nothing she doesn't even know if he's alive side note he didn't even tell her that he was going to take a plane hostage in case she reported him he just told her that he's not going to see her for a year or two but she should pay attention to the news that's it and then he hijacked a commercial airplane but this is the sign that she needs from The Clairvoyant to somehow to do what ever it takes get herself to North Korea to marry the man she loves one of the nine plain hijackers because why she loves him yes wow that's some Next Level love yeah there was a lot of conversation of if South Korea had not let them land in s would things have played out differently probably it said that Kim s's favorite thing about this whole situation was it was a massive slap in the face to the Western countries well some of them first of all the hostage situation made international news and to think that three countries allegedly Japan South Korea and probably the United States could not offer the hijackers something could not force them or negotiate with them the fact that the hijackers didn't even want to be there in the first place they didn't want to be in Japan they don't like Japan they want to hold a revolution they don't like South Korea they don't want to be in South Korea they want to be in North Korea that's the biggest win it's free natural easy propaganda for the world so back when Kimi song was running North Korea North Korea was it wasn't what it is today a lot of people felt sympathy for North Korea there were a lot of people who actually understood why he might do something like this why he might turn away from a capitalistic world it was not what it is today like people were not starving the people were not dying so there were a lot of primarily University students from all over the world that actually sympathized lot with North Korea and actually kind of to a degree thought maybe Kim knows a little something something we don't know yeah so the University students they self-exiled themselves to distance themselves from the rotten capitalistic Society of Japan this is good that's how he felt Kim's reading the poem that they all wrote him oh yeah they're in North Korea now and they've been there for a few years and they're writing poems oh they're living in the little village little Japan yeah but they can't do anything they can't go anywhere for now they write Kim a poem and it reads you raised us nameless as we were and entrusted us with the Japanese revolution in the love of our father our leader we Face the Glorious battle such love such kindness we hold it in our hearts we offer everything to our great General with the guidance of the great General the future of Japan will flower We Are Soldiers of the premiere we advance along the road of loyalty oh our fatherly great General our loyal Hearts pray you will live 10,000 years just years after they landed in North Korea the hijackers were now Kim s's golden pieces in his little game to World Domination The Landing in North Korea was rough just like every other part of the hijackers trips the pilots on Japan Airlines 351 had no contact with air traffic controls of North Korea the Sun is setting they've been doing circles in Pyongyang they don't know where the airport is you basically have to land now or else they're screwed they have never been to the pongyang airport they can't even locate it the best option they have was to land on this tiny little landing strip about 15 miles from Pyongyang international airport they're one step away from driving off the landing strip and then finally 13 people step off the plane nine hijackers three crew members and the vice minister of Transport yamamura one of the hijackers would later admit we didn't know if we would would be chased off the moment we landed at pyang or be thrown into a prison or if we would be told to leave immediately but instead of being tense they were instantly treated like Heroes one of the hijackers said we were put up at a hotel in pongyang the first night we almost expected to be escorted straight to like an internment camp so it was unexpectedly very nice treatment after meeting with the authorities we were shown to the Hotel dining room where we had this full banquet a full course multiple course Korean banquet I have never eaten had such a banquet before in my life the crew members the vice Minister were allowed to fly back to Japan after being whed and dined for a few days but they had to Kickstart their own plane okay so to put it simply North Korea did not have a battery starter for a Boeing plane at their disposal Japan was frantically trying to send one but North Korea was like you cannot be sending from Japan to us so they were trying to get one into Moscow then send it import it into North Korea because it was a whole thing but eventually the crew were so desperate to get out of there the two pilots and the additional crew member they found a car battery used a local compressed air cylinder and kickstarted the planes battery themselves they're like we got to get out of here they left all three four of them they left yes wow they flew back to Japan they coming home was a huge deal it was seen as a very positive thing and in the minds of most Japanese people in the world the hijacking situation was over you know new Cycles are moving on there's really nothing more to the story the Japanese government did try to extradite and are still trying to extradite the hijackers out of North Korea but North Korea would reject all of their requests and they would very richly say we just don't think it's Humane what Japan might do to the hijackers so we're going to keep them here we are protecting them from their own government do we know if the nine people are still alive or a few of them are dead a few of them are are still alive yes and still living in North Korea there had been an influx of missing women in Japan and there were rumors about this but nobody could really confirm it these missing women all had a few things in common they were all unmarried without children and they all to a degree either sympathized with North Korean ideologies or believed in it they were all part of groups or social clubs that read the teachings of Kimi song and they all vanished on an overseas trip to Europe just vanished Without a Trace they left nothing behind not even a single suitcase not a single item of clothing just dis appeared coincidentally around the time during a press conference Kimi s was asked about the hijackers that are still in North Korea this is like years after the hijacking nobody's heard from the hijackers they've made no contact with the world obviously people have questions are they still alive what's going on why aren't you letting them go back to Japan how long are you going to keep them do they even want to stay here what are they doing where are they living but of course they can't ask any of that instead they just try to bring up some of the hijackers and Kimi sung without any sort of of prompting just response the hijackers say they wish to return to Japan but if they do they would have to stand trial in Korea we have a saying after 10 years even rivers and mountains change I think their feelings might have changed too in many ways they're married now to Japanese women and with children it's been a long time so I would say to Japan please consider dropping all the charges against them the headlines all over Japan would read missing women are wives of hijackers wait what oh yeah we'll get there it is speculated that Kimi S held a secret operation called operation marriage where North Korean operatives allegedly kidnpped Japanese women and forced them to get married to the hijackers in one massive wedding ceremony of nine couples he lets them live in this massive gated compound called little Japan but soon they would later call it the village of Revolution because the part that's fascinating is why would Kimi s care at all about whether these get married or not or care about these men at all in general one of the guy writes in his diary there are probably people who are angry that we got married but I think men ought to marry men and women too should get married if you're engaged with something that gets in the way of your getting married I think you'll eventually lose interest in it wait what is he talking about isn't he just being held captive in North Korea so at this point within a few years of being in North Korea whether it was out of necessity or pure interest or both the hijackers start turning their interest into North Korea their Revolution was no longer about Japan it was about uniting North and South Korea under kir s's Rule and since that moment the hijackers are moved from the hotel to their own little village they go through a series of indoctrinations brainwashing sessions where they unlearned everything that had to do with their Revolution and reprogram their minds with the teachings of Kim s the first that they had to learn was this is not like every other revolutionary meeting that you've been to in the past okay there is no room for interpretation here either you agree or you disagree there is no half agreeing either your life is in danger or you're safe there's no middle ground where you're like kind of skirting the edge of danger and now their new mission is yes hold a revolution in Japan where Kim song will take over but also in South Korea and other parts of Europe Kimi s should honestly rule the world the whole point was to make sure North Korea has supporters all over the world they can't do this if they're the only ones like nine people they're not going to change the world's views they need to go into different countries hold seminars find groups of people that sympathize with the North and like have this whole organization put together where they can all support kimi's goals and slowly they can start bringing in more and more countries Kimi obviously agrees with their new vision because it's his vision but believes that they need to have a family to really throw themselves into their revolutionary work there's a few reasons for this one it said that after konishi takahiro's girlfriend she's the one with the The Clairvoyant she moves from Japan to Beijing Beijing CU they have a North Korean Embassy she begs North Korean embassies please let me go to North Korea please I want to go to North Korea so bad please let me go they're like okay fine go to North Korea willingly win there yes once she's allowed into North Korea she and konishi Heroes start their own little group within the group you know they're the only ones that are coupled up and it starts creating this very strange Dynamic amongst the hostage takers they felt like it was just them they were in this together as revolutionaries why does he get to have emotional comfort and physical attention and two this is terrifying and it's not further expanded upon any Source I could find even this like 420 page book that I read on it but it said that the men tried to engage in highly inappropriate sexual acts with the North Korean women that were staffed to work for them in this gated compound yeah so I feel like that's putting it lightly this seems like the biggest trigger for the North Korean party to get involved and lastly three within a year of getting married almost all of them have children and that is how the group are allowed to leave North Korea to find more revolutionaries around the world to join them Kimi envisioned that the hijackers would go to Europe all over Asia find like-minded people and convince them and they would have covert operatives across the world work working for him building their own teams of revolutionaries that are going to help Kimi take over their countries but that means the hijackers would have to leave North Korea for these operations but what's the insurance plan how can Kim be so certain that they're going to come back their wives aren't going to do it these wives are just like random kidnapped woman from Japan other than kishi's girlfriend what is the emotional attachment there that's why they have kids you keep the kid in North Korea send the parents abroad and North Korea is known for doing that wow and it worked because remember that guy in Cambodia yeah one of the hijackers it's alleged obviously everything's alleged because North Korea doesn't confirm anything but it's alleged that he was working with North Korea on the counter fitting schemes it's unclear exactly what the hijackers did for North Korea after landing there some speculate they were all assigned different roles we do know that one was arrested like I said for spreading the counterfeit us supern in Southeast Asia it speculated that they were all working as North Korean operatives the hijackers and even their wives there are allegations that whenever the members of the group would be in Europe Japanese Nationals would go missing on their trips in Europe they're kidnapping people yes why um to turn them into like a and this all comes full circle but to turn them into basically so I'm assuming the Japanese Nationals that they kidnapped had some sort of sympathy for North nor Korea so they're bringing them into North Korea to brainwash them further and create more operatives to send out and the Japanese passport is stronger like you you're not going to get into all the countries on a North Korean passport even if it's a diplomacy passport right right right so they want more japanes yes so that's why the wives for the hijackers first of all they can't marry North Korean women because um it's highly illegal for North Koreans to marry anyone that's not North Korean because they believe in race purity yeah or like I guess National Purity in this case so they brought in Japanese wives but also what they would do is they would send the Japanese wives with a North Korean Diplomat passport out into these different countries mainly Europe and then once they get into Europe they start using their Japanese passport to get into other countries and to move around yes so they wanted a lot of different passports involved in this whole situation is what I'm getting out of this now North Korea did admit to kidnapping Japanese people and even if you look at the one where North Korea kidnapped a South Korean actress you'll see that she's in a compound just like this and she meets a Japanese woman at one point she like meets a Chinese woman at one point there's just a lot of different Nationals there so yeah as of 2004 the hijackers have requested permission from North Korea to return back to Japan and um there are mixed feelings about this so the hijackers do genuinely seem like they want to go back to Japan and Kimi is long dead well he is dead right but don't kill me Kim Jong and his grandson has taken over and I don't think that he sees as much value in them but I think he just keeps them around because he doesn't want to give them back to Japan now there are other theories though that the hijackers are begging to go back to Japan under the disguise of like oh we miss our home country but they're going to try and start some stuff there wait so right now they wanted to leave but they're not allowed to leave yeah North Korea won't let them leave so far there's no real answers the vice minister of Transport the one that exchanged his life for the passengers he was actually scheduled to fly into pongyang I would say maybe like a decade ago for negotiations to swap the hijackers or to get them back but coincidentally the day before he was scheduled to leave his daughter suffered from a psychotic break and stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife his daughter killed him yeah she had a psychotic break prior to this his career was flourishing I mean when he got back he was the hostage official I mean he put his money where his mouth is he's like I'm for the people and people how can you AR argue with that he did save his you know exchange his life for the people wow but he is dead yeah as of right now Yoshimi Tanaka one of the hijackers was arrested in Thailand for Distributing supernotes counterfeit US currency he was extradited to Japan where he died of liver cancer in 2007 in prison tekashi okamato is suspected to be dead it's suspected that he actually attempted to flee North Korea on a boat Karo Yoshida is also suspected to have denied the teachings of North Korea and was allegedly suspected of being sent to a prison camp where he likely died how do we know all this information about their Stay the book that I read the author actually did multiple visits to North Korea obviously with North Korea's permission and he was interviewing the hijackers wow so it's suspected it was part of North Korea's plan to make the hijackers not seem like they're all part of kimi's little group and make them seem like oh North Korea is just a nice place we like living here so that more people would accept their teachings if they were to go abroad Tamia takamaru the leader of the group The Original leader of the group was said to have died from a mysterious illness in North Korea also allegedly suspicious yashiro shibata he's the youngest member of the group The hijacking happened when he was only 16 he actually went to Japan to recruit people to North Korea but he was arrested for forging a passport he went under a fake passport after a sentence he stayed in Japan until he died in 2011 takahira konishi is currently still living in North Korea he is internationally wanted it is alleged that he has taken over as the leader of the group Abbe kimihiro is currently still in North Korea as well he is wanted by interpole for kidnapping Japanese people wakabayashi moraki also lives in North Korea as well Shira akagi also lives in North Korea and if and when the remaining wives get back they're facing 10 months in prison while the husbands will probably face more than 10 years in prison for their crimes they will be facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon International kidnapping theft of an airplane and the crime of taking hostages back then there was no crime of airplane hijacking so they couldn't be charged with that all of the children however of the hijackers have returned to Japan well I guess it's not return but they now live in Japan how did that happen yeah I guess North Korea was like yeah just go I think it became too many people wow yeah the interesting thing to note though is the hijackers went through all of this because their whole belief the reason that they even hijacked the plane to begin with was one of it was based on having a classless society where wealth and resources were distributed very equally but they were and are living the lives of the0 1% in North Korea they are literally the richest of the rich in North Korea and it does not seem like they have a problem with class disparity anymore as long as they're part of the group that gets to live comfortably wow so so much their Vision yeah what are your thoughts on this case I'm just like just feels unreal I did not yeah and who what yeah I don't even know what to say to this one and the fact that there's still living in North Korea is crazy see this is what I say you get what you ask for and I feel like they probably have a lot of regrets on that one yeah yeah I feel like if they really come out and share what happened in the last 20 30 years oh my gosh I don't think we're ready for that that would be yeah yeah I feel like we're touching like the surface of the surface of what truly went down I imagine North Korea is not going to let them go for that reason right right and I imagine the kids can't say anything because their parents are still in North Korea it's fascinating what are your thoughts wow but please stay safe and I will see you guys in the next one