15 Koreans return from Israel aboard Japanese plane

People evacuated from Israel walk through a terminal at the Haneda international airport upon their arrival after getting off the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's airplane in Tokyo, Oct. 21. AP-Yonhap

A Japanese aircraft carrying a group of Korean nationals, along with its own people, returned from Israel on Friday, Seoul's foreign ministry said, the second such flight Japan has offered after Korea brought Japanese citizens home on its plane last month.

The Air Self-Defense Force aircraft carrying 15 Koreans and one foreign national family member related to a Korean national landed at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, at 6:45 p.m., the foreign ministry said.

The plane had departed from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Thursday (local time).

This is the second flight Tokyo has provided to aid Seoul in the evacuation of Koreans from the war-torn region.

Eighteen Koreans and a foreign family member returned aboard a Japanese aircraft on Oct. 21 as Japan offered to share some 20 seats with Koreans.

The proposal was seen as returning the favor to Seoul after a Korean military aircraft brought back 51 Japanese people, along with 163 Koreans, from Israel on Oct. 14.

A total of 420 Korean citizens remain in Israel, according to the ministry.

The mutual cooperation between the two neighboring countries comes amid a significant warming of bilateral relations that had been badly frayed by a dispute over compensating Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.

In March, Korea said it will not seek compensation from Japanese companies but make up for the victims' suffering on its own. (Yonhap)