Prospects increased that five family members of the former Red Army Faction members who hijacked a Japan Airlines jet in 1970 will return to Japan from North Korea as government sources said Japan plans to allow an agent to apply for visas for them.

The Foreign Ministry, which had requested that the five leave the North to file applications at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, changed its policy and is now planning to accept and examine applications submitted by their supporters, the sources said Saturday.

The move would make it possible for the five to return to Japan later this month as they no longer need to travel to China for the applications. The ministry had demanded they go to Beijing because they cannot be identified while in North Korea, which has no Japanese government offices due to the lack of diplomatic relations between Japan and North Korea.