A Tokyo court has sentenced a former member of the Japanese Red Army terrorist group to 12 years in prison for hijacking a plane to North Korea in 1970.

Fifty-three year old Yoshimi Tanaka had pleaded guilty to taking over a Japan Airlines Boeing 727 with 129 people on board and forcing it to land in Pyongyang.

Mr. Tanaka was one of nine Red Army members charged in the hijacking. Three of his alleged accomplices are said to have died in North Korea while at least four still live in the communist country.

Tanaka was arrested in Cambodia in March of 1996 and turned over to Thailand, where he was tried and acquitted on charges of possessing counterfeit money. Tanaka remained in Thailand until he was extradited to Japan in 2000.

The Red Army, formed in the late 1960's, advocated "simultaneous world revolution." Its members have been accused of bombing and attacks on embassies and airports in Japan and abroad.

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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