Korean Air Flight 858

Korean Air Flight 858
A Boeing 707 in the old colors of society.
Accident summary
Accident type	Bomb attack
place	Andaman Sea
date	November 29, 1987
Fatalities	115
Survivors	0
Injured	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-3B5C
operator	Korean Air Lines
Mark	HL7406
Departure airport	Saddam International Airport , Baghdad , Iraq
Stopover	Abu Dhabi International Airport , Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
Destination airport	Gimpo International Airport , Seoul , South Korea
Passengers	104
crew	11
Lists of aviation accidents

Korean Air Flight 858 was en route from Baghdad to Seoul on November 29, 1987 . Two North Korean agents deposited a bomb in the passenger cabin before disembarking the plane on a layover at Abu Dhabi International Airport . The machine exploded over the Andaman Sea, killing 115 people. The investigation and the testimony suggest a direct involvement of Kim Jong-il , the son and successor of the then North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung .

Flight details

Flight 858 was operated with a Boeing 707-3B5C with registration number HL7406 , which passed on November 29, 1987 on the flight from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok with 104 passengers (most of the South Korean migrant workers returning from the Middle East) and eleven crew members the Andaman Sea exploded. Two North Korean agents boarded in Baghdad and left the plane on a layover in Abu Dhabi after leaving a time bomb in the overhead locker above the seats. The agents were arrested on the run while trying to leave Bahrain with forged Japanese papers. They tried to avoid arrest by taking cyanide capsules . The elderly, 70-year-old Kim Sung Il died immediately, while the 25-year-old Kim Hyon Hui (also: Kim Hyon Hee) survived.

examination

As it became known at a meeting of the UN Security Council on December 15, 1987, Kim Hyon Hui was transferred from Bahrain to Seoul, where he continued to recover from the ingestion of poison. After watching life in South Korea on television, she voluntarily made an extensive confession, saying that she was "used as a tool for North Korean terrorist activities." She described her journey under the supervision of North Korean agents from Pyongyang via Moscow , Budapest , Vienna , Belgrade , and finally to Baghdad, where the bomb was prepared. The escape was supposed to lead from Abu Dhabi via Amman to Rome , but was rerouted to Bahrain due to complications with the visa.

In January 1988, Kim Hyon Hui stated at a press conference by the Agency for National Security Planning, the South Korean secret service, that she and her partner were North Korean comrades. She said they left a radio with 350 grams of C-4 explosives and a bottle of approximately 700 ml of PLX explosives in the overhead bin above the seats in the passenger cabin. Kim Hyon Hui expressed remorse for their actions and asked the victims' families for forgiveness. She also said the command for the bombing was directly descended from the pen of Kim Jong-il , who destabilize the South Korean government, disrupt the South Korean parliamentary election in 1988 and teams from participating in the Summer Olympics in Seoul was off. A January 15, 1988 article by Peter Maass in the Washington Post stated that it was unclear whether Kim Hyon Hui was coerced into making this statement or whether she made it out of remorse for her actions. Also, the mirror holds the confession in certain details questionable.

aftermath

In 1993, William Morrow & Co. published The Tears of My Soul , Kim Hyon Hui's description of how she was trained as a North Korean spy agent and carried out the attack. As a token of her repentance, she donated the entire proceeds from the book to the relatives of the victims.

Based on the results of the South Korean investigation, the United States State Department designated the bombing as a "terrorist act" and North Korea until 2008 as a supporter of terrorism.

The attack was discussed in detail in at least two sessions of the UN Security Council, with the allegation and evidence being voiced from all sides, but no resolution being passed. It was the most fatal attack in the history of South Korea.

During the North Korean crisis in 2013 , Kim Hyun-hee again confessed her guilt for the attack in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .

See also

• List of attacks on commercial aircraft

Web links

• Andy Pope: Photo of the Boeing 707-3B5C before the attack
• Suspect in Korean Crash Recovers From Poisoning ; New York Times, December 6, 1987.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Suspect in Korean Crash Recovers From Poisoning , The New York Times . December 6, 1987. 
2. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 2791. (No longer available online.) February 16, 1988, p. 10 , archived from the original on January 24, 2011 ; Retrieved July 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 2791. (No longer available online.) Feb. 16, 1988, p. 12 , archived from the original on Jan. 24, 2011 ; Retrieved July 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ^ Paul French: North Korea: The Paranoid Peninsula: A Modern History . Zed Books, 2007, ISBN 1-84277-905-2 , p. 244.
5. ^ Peter Maass: Woman Says She Sabotaged Plane on Orders from N. Korean Leader , The Washington Post. January 15, 1988. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved January 6, 2010. 
6. ^ South Korea: Lonely Year ; Der Spiegel 16/1988 of April 18, 1988; Pp. 194-195
7. ↑ Kim Hyun Hee : The Tears of My Soul . William Morrow & Co., 1993, ISBN 978-0-688-12833-3 .
8. ↑ Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 (PDF; 2.1 MB) State Department. April 2005. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
9. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 2791. (No longer available online.) February 16, 1988, archived from the original on January 27, 2011 ; Retrieved July 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 2792. (No longer available online.) February 17, 1988, archived from the original on August 13, 2011 ; Retrieved July 12, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 3627. (No longer available online.) Jan. 31, 1996, pp. 8–9 , archived from the original on December 12, 2011 ; Retrieved July 12, 2010 (Mr. Park, South Korea). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/korea-krise/kims-killerfrauen-29960354.bild.html

Coordinates: 14 ° 33 '0 "  N , 97 ° 22' 59.9"  E