Kwon Hyi-ro - The Kin Kiro Incident

The Kin Kiro Incident

In what became known as "The Kin Kiro Incident", Kwon Hyi-ro shot and killed a gang leader and a gang member with his rifle in Shimizu City on February 20, 1968. Being sought by police, he then broke into a hotel and, armed with dynamite and a rifle, took as hostages 18 people who were either hotel guests or family of the hotel owner. He then called police to tell them where he was hiding. 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 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. Kwon was arrested on February 24 after a 4 day standoff. 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 June 17, 1973, and the sentence was confirmed by Supreme Court of Japan in 1975.

The 1969 story Manazashi no kabe (The wall of the gaze) by Kin Kakuei described the plight of the Zainich (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 1968 incident and his efforts on behalf of the Korean minority in Japan "made him a national hero in South Korea". The 1992 South Korean film Kim's War, portrayed him as a hero.

Kwon was released on parole on September 7, 1999 at the age of 70, on the condition that he would never return to Japan. He moved to South Korea where he changed his name to his original of 'Kwon Hyi-ro'. He was considered in South Korea as "the hero who resisted discrimination", and was given a luxury flat and living expenses. On September 3, 2000, he broke into his lover's apartment in Busan City, attacked her husband, and set fire to the apartment. He was arrested on an attempted murder and suspicion of incendiarism and, after being diagnosed as having a personality disorder, was sent to a sanitarium. On March 26, 2010, he died of prostate cancer in a hospital in Busan, South Korea. He was 81.