Red Army members want talks

Four of the former Japanese Red Army guerrillas, who hijacked a Japan Airlines plane to North Korea in 1970, have called on the Japanese government to open talks so that they can return home.

In a statement faxed from the North Korean capital Pyongyang, they said they feared that their continued presence in North Korea could be used as a pretext to accuse Pyongyang of being a supporter of terrorism.

Of the nine original hijackers, two have died, while two others who returned to Japan were tried and found guilty of air piracy.

The Red Army was formed in the late 1960s and advocated revolution through armed violence.

It was responsible for numerous attacks, including an assault on an airport in Tel Aviv in which 26 people died. The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has said the four will be arrested if they return home.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service