Japan evacuates 18 Koreans on free transport flights for its nationals

A Total of 83 Passengers Including 60 Japanese Onboard... Arriving in Tokyo Tomorrow

Amid escalating tensions between Israel and the Palestinian armed faction Hamas, the Japanese government deployed a Japan Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft to evacuate a total of 83 people, including Japanese and Koreans.

According to NHK on the 20th, the Ministry of Defense announced that on the morning of the same day, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force KC767 aerial refueling transport aircraft flew 83 Japanese and Koreans from Israel to the transit point in Jordan.

Staff waiting at an Israeli airport to transport Japanese nationals. (Photo by ANN)

According to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the transport aircraft carried 60 Japanese nationals wishing to depart, 4 foreign family members, 18 Koreans, and 1 foreign family member. They are scheduled to arrive at Haneda Airport in Japan on the 21st.

This appears to be a reciprocation for South Korea’s free transport of 51 Japanese nationals on a military transport aircraft on the 14th. At that time, the South Korean government, despite carrying Koreans wishing to depart, had remaining seats on the transport aircraft and offered them to the Japanese side on humanitarian grounds.

Conversely, during the same period, the Japanese government charged 30,000 yen (approximately 270,000 won) per person and evacuated 8 Japanese nationals from Israel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by chartered flight, which sparked controversy due to the different approach compared to South Korea.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At a press conference the previous day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu responded to reporters’ questions asking, “Is there a reason for allowing Koreans to board remaining seats?” by saying, “Currently, Self-Defense Force aircraft are on standby in Djibouti and Jordan, and we are adjusting schedules for Japanese nationals wishing to depart. In cases where there are remaining seats, we are also checking with other countries to see if there are people who wish to board.”

Meanwhile, according to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are currently about 900 Japanese nationals in Israel and Palestine, and so far, 51 have returned to Japan on South Korean military transport aircraft and 8 on Japanese government chartered flights, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.