South Korean Nationals on Japanese Transport Plane Arrive in Tokyo from Israel

18 Koreans Onboard

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

A Japan Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft carrying Koreans and Japanese departed from Israel and arrived in Tokyo on the morning of the 21st.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force KC767 aerial refueling and transport aircraft took off from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, on the night of the 19th (local time), stopped over in Jordan and Singapore, and landed at Tokyo Haneda Airport at around 3:15 a.m. that day.

The transport aircraft carried 60 Japanese nationals, 4 foreign-national family members, 18 Koreans, and 1 foreign-national family member.

The Koreans are reported to stay at hotels near the airport or at acquaintances' homes before returning home or moving to Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture to board flights to Korea. The Korean Embassy in Japan provided transportation assistance to the Koreans who arrived in Tokyo.

The boarding of Koreans on the Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft appears to be a gesture of "reciprocation" for the Korean government’s evacuation of 163 Koreans from Israel on an Air Force transport aircraft on the 14th, during which 51 Japanese nationals and their families were transported free of charge.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno explained the previous day, "After conducting a survey of Japanese nationals wishing to depart from Israel, seats remained available. Based on past support for Japanese departures and requests from the counterpart countries, we checked whether there was a desire to board from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea, and only Korea made a request."

Earlier, on the 15th, the Japanese government evacuated 8 of its nationals from Israel to the United Arab Emirates using a charter flight. At that time, passengers were charged 30,000 yen (about 270,000 won) per person, sparking controversy in Japan over the "paid evacuation." Unlike the previous charter flight, the current Self-Defense Forces transport flight was operated free of charge, and no fare was charged to Koreans.

In addition to the transport aircraft that returned on this day, the Japanese government has dispatched two C2 transport aircraft to Jordan and Djibouti in East Africa, where the Self-Defense Forces have a base. The two transport aircraft remain on standby locally in preparation for future Japanese evacuations.

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