Korean Air Flight 858
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 29, 1987 |
| Type | Airliner bombing |
| Site | over the Andaman Sea |
| Fatalities | 115 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-3B5C |
| Operator | Korean Air |
| Tail number | HL-7406 |
| Passengers | 104 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Korean Air Flight 858, registration HL-7406, was a Boeing 707-3B5C aircraft which exploded over the Andaman Sea en route from Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq and Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to Old Bangkok International Airport (now Don Mueang International Airport), Bangkok, Thailand and Gimpo Airport, Seoul, South Korea on November 29, 1987. All 115 on board were killed.
Officials in the UAE and in South Korea quickly identified two suspects in the bombing, a man and a woman who had boarded the flight in Baghdad and departed at Abu Dhabi. The pair quickly left Abu Dhabi for Bahrain; when they were prevented by Bahrain airport authorities from leaving that country, both swallowed cyanide capsules. 70-year-old Kim Sung Il died almost instantly, but the female suspect, 26-year-old Kim Hyon Hui, survived. [1]
In January of 1988, Ms. Kim announced at a press conference held by the South Korean Agency for National Security Planning (the equivalent of the United States CIA) that both she and her partner were North Korean operatives. She said that they had left a radio containing 350 grams of C-4 explosive and a liquor bottle containing approximately 700 ml of PLX explosive in an overhead rack in the passenger cabin of the aircraft. Kim expressed remorse at her actions and asked for the forgiveness of the families of those who had died. She also said that the order for the bombing had been "personally penned" by Kim Jong Il, then the son of North Korean President Kim Il Sung, who had wanted to destabilize the South Korean government. An article written by Peter Maass for the Washington Post and dated January 15, 1988 [2] states that it was unknown whether Ms. Kim was coerced in her remarks or in her remorse for her actions.
The United States State Department specifically refers to the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 as a "terrorist act" and listed North Korea as a Designated State Sponsor of Terrorism [3] based on the results of the South Korean investigation.
The bombing is as of October 2006 the deadliest terrorist attack against South Korea.
[edit] Also see
[edit] External links and references
- KAL기사건 진상규명 시민대책위원회 - A view that questions the official account of the incident (in Korean, and translated imperfectly into English)
- Aviation Safety Network file on Flight 858
- New York Times article on Flight 858 dated December 6, 1987. Retrieved October 22, 2006.
- Peter Maass article originally published in the Washington Post dated January 15, 1988. Retrieved October 22, 2006.
