TOKYO — Japan is organizing a special flight to bring back approximately 20 South Koreans from Israel, in addition to its own nationals, according to local media reports.
Citing government officials, Yonhap News Agency reported that Japan has offered these seats to South Korea while assessing the demand for emergency transportation among its own citizens. An Air Self-Defense Force transport aircraft has been dispatched to Jordan for this purpose.
The flight is scheduled to depart from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv at around 8 p.m. local time on Thursday and is expected to arrive at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo early Saturday. The service will be provided at no cost.
This initiative is seen as a reciprocal gesture after a South Korean military aircraft repatriated 51 Japanese citizens, along with 163 South Koreans, from Tel Aviv last Saturday. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa expressed gratitude to her South Korean counterpart, Park Jin, in a subsequent phone call.
The mutual cooperation occurs in the context of a thaw in bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan, following Seoul's decision not to seek compensation from Japanese companies for forced labor during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.