Kwon Hyi-ro

Kim Hyi-ro (Japanese: Kin Kirō, né Kwon, 20 November 1928 – 26 March 2010) was a second-generation Korean in Japan born in November 1928 in Shimizu, Shizuoka, who held 18 Japanese citizens hostage in 1968. On the second day of the incident, Kwon Hyi-ro released 5 of the hostages, but threatened to use dynamite to blow himself up if police came near him. He blamed Japan for "the creation and maintenance of two Koreas." He demanded a public apology from two policemen about discriminatory remarks made to him in the past and full disclosure of the criminal background of the two men he had killed. NHK broadcast the apology from two policemen on national television. Ten of the hostages had been released by the time he was seized by police officers posing as reporters. Kwon was subsequently prosecuted for murder, confinement and violation of explosive control rules. The Shizuoka District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment on 17 June 1973, and the sentence was confirmed by Supreme Court of Japan in 1975.

Tsuneari Fukuda satirised the incident in the 1968 play . The 1969 story Manazashi no kabe (The wall of the gaze) by Kin Kakuei described the plight of the Zainichi (Korean Japanese) and described Kwon's actions as "justifiable resistance", and his case as "an 'ethnic problem' created by the crimes against Korea by the Japanese state and society". The 1992 South Korean film Kim's War, portrayed him as a hero.

Arson incident Kwon was released on parole on 7 September 1999 at the age of 70, on the condition that he would never return to Japan. He moved to South Korea

Death In his later years, citing "visiting his mother's grave in Japan, Kim planned to petition the Japanese Ministry of Justice for permission to enter Japan through the Korean government in March 2010. However, he died of prostate cancer at a hospital in Busan on March 26, 2010, at the age of 81. He wished to be buried at his mother's gravesite in Kakegawa City, but due to discord with his family, it was never realized and the ashes were scattered off the coast of Busan and at the site of the incident.