Abstract

PATRICIA G. STEINHOFF
Kidnapped Japanese in North Korea:
The New Left Connection

This article traces the connections between a Japanese New Left student group from the late 1960s, the Red Army Faction, and the kidnapping of Japanese citizens to North Korea. After hijacking a plane to Pyongyang in 1970, the “Yodogō” hijackers were converted to Kim Il Sung’s chuch’e philosophy. North Korean agents lured eight Japanese women to North Korea to marry the men, and several of them later helped to lure three young Japanese travelers from Europe to North Korea. The story became known because of the investigative reporting of a journalist whose career was shaped by his New Left affiliations.

Volume 30, Number 1 (Winter 2004)
© 2004 Society for Japanese Studies