REPORTERS AND CROWD PAN ACROSS TO GATE; MAN TALKS AT GATE; KIM OUT TO CROWD; CROWD STRUGGLES WITH KIM; CROWDS SURROUND KIM AS HE IS TAKEN AWAY.




Initials IF/VS/CT/SGM


EDITORS: PLEASE REFER TO: VISPROD 1959/68 "JAPAN: ALLEGED KOREAN KILLER HOLDS POLICE AT BAY WITH HOSTAGES" SERVICED 24 FEB. '68.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: POLICE YESTERDAY (SATURDAY) SEIZED AN ALLEGED KILLER WHO HAD HELD 16 PEOPLE HOSTAGE FOR FOUR DAYS AT A COUNTRY INN NEAR SUMATAKYO, JAPAN - A TOWN ABOUT 100 MILES WEST OF TOKIO. THEY JUMPED ON 41-YEAR-OLD HUI KYO KIM, A JAPANESE-BORN KOREAN, AS HE CAME TO THE DOOR AND RELEASED ONE OF HIS HOSTAGES BEFORE 70 REPORTERS AND TELEVISION CAMERAMEN.

HUI KYO KIM ARRIVED AT THE INN LATE ON TUESDAY AFTER AN INCIDENT IN WHICH HE IS ALLEGED TO HAVE SHOT TWO MEN IN A NIGHTCLUB IN NEARBY SHIMIZU. APOLOGISING FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, KIM IS SAID TO HAVE TAPED DYNAMITE TO TWO CHARCOAL BURNERS AND THREATENED TO KICK THEM OVER, KILLING HIMSELF AND THE INNS 16 OCCUPANTS, IF POLICE RUSHED THE BUILDING.

HE COMPLAINED OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST JAPAN'S HALF MILLION KOREANS AND AGREED TO RELEASE THE HOSTAGES ONLY AFTER NEGOTIATIONS WITH UNARMED POLICE, LEADERS OF THE KOREAN COMMUNITY, AND EVENTUALLY A POLICE APOLOGY FOR ANY SLIGHTS TO HIS RACIAL PRIDE.

HIS CAPTURE CAME YESTERDAY AFTERNOON, AFTER PLAIN-CLOTHES POLICEMEN STRUGGLED WITH HIM AS HE BROUGHT A HOSTAGE TO THE DOOR. HE IS SAID TO HAVE TRIED TO COMMIT SUICIDE DURING HIS ATTEMPTS TO EVADE CAPTURE. BUT THE HOSTAGES, LOOKING DAZED AND EXHAUSTED AFTER THEIR ORDEAL, SAID HE HAD ALWAYS BEEN POLITE AND NEVER THREATENED THEM.