Kim Hyi-ro (Japanese: Kin Kirō) (20 November 1928 – 26 March 2010) was a second-generation Korean in Japan born in November 1928 in Shimizu, Shizuoka, who became a national hero in South Korea after holding 18 Japanese citizens hostage in 1968. Background His father, Kwon Myung-sool, was killed in an accident during construction work in 1931. His mother remarried in 1933. At that time, his family name changed from Kwon to Kim. Since his family was poor, he dropped out of elementary school by the fifth grade, after repeated racial intimidation by classmates. He was caught for theft and was put into the reformatory in 1943. After that, he committed crimes including theft, swindling, and burglary, resulting in prison terms. 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 20 February 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 blamed Japan for "the creation and maintenance of two Koreas." 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 24 February 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 17 June 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 Zainichi (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