金大中事件のホテル営業終了へ　コロナ禍で継続困難に―東京・飯田橋

　１９７３年に金大中氏（後に韓国大統領）の拉致事件が起きた東京・飯田橋のホテルグランドパレスが６月３０日で営業を終了することが１５日、分かった。新型コロナウイルス感染拡大に伴う財務状況の悪化などが響き、昭和史の舞台が一つ姿を消す。
　ホテルは今月９日にホームページ上で、「過去に類を見ない経営環境に陥っていること」などの事情を挙げ、営業終了を明らかにした。昨年末には、今年７月から当面の営業休止を発表していたが、事業継続は困難と判断した。２０年の売り上げは前年比７割減にまで落ち込んだという。
　７２年２月に開業したホテルは、地上２４階、地下５階建てで客室数は全４５８室。東京の中心部に立地し、近くには靖国神社などがある。当時の韓国中央情報部（ＫＣＩＡ）が主導したとされる金氏拉致事件は、７３年８月に発生。過去にはプロ野球のドラフト（新人選択）会議などの会場にも使用された。（2021/02/15-19:17）

Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo, the site of an incident in 1973 in which then South Korean prodemocracy leader Kim Dae-jung, who later became president of the country, was kidnapped, will close down on June 30, it was learned Monday.
   The hotel, located in the Iidabashi district in the Japanese capital's Chiyoda Ward, made the decision as its earnings have deteriorated due partly to the impact from the novel coronavirus pandemic. On its website on Tuesday last week, the hotel said that the current business environment is unprecedentedly severe.
   Late last year, the hotel announced plans to suspend its operations for a while from July 2021, but it eventually concluded that it will be difficult to continue its business.
   The hotel's revenue in 2020 plunged 70 pct from the preceding year, officials said. Opened in February 1972, the hotel in central Tokyo has 24 stories above ground and five below. It has 458 guest rooms.
   In the high-profile incident, Kim, who was in Japan at the time to escape from the then military government of South Korea, was abducted from Hotel Grand Palace on Aug. 8, 1973. The former Korean Central Intelligence Agency was suspected to have been involved in the plot. Kim was released in Seoul five days later.