Korean Air Flight 858

Korean Air Flight 858 was a scheduled international passenger flight between Baghdad, Iraq, and Seoul, South Korea. On 29 November 1987, the Boeing 707 flying the route exploded in mid-air upon the detonation of a bomb planted inside an overhead storage bin in the airplane's passenger cabin by two North Korean agents.

The agents, acting upon orders from the North Korean government, planted the device before disembarking from the aircraft during the first stop-over, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. While the aircraft was flying over the Andaman Sea to its second stop-over, in Bangkok, Thailand, the bomb detonated and destroyed the Korean Air Boeing 707-3B5C. Everyone aboard the airliner was killed, a total of 104 passengers and 11 crew members, almost all of whom were South Korean. The attack occurred 34 years after the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the hostilities of the Korean War on 27 July 1953.

The two bombers were traced to Bahrain, where they both took ampules of cyanide hidden in cigarettes when they realized they were about to be taken into custody. The man died, but the woman, Kim Hyon-hui, survived and later confessed to the bombing. She was sentenced to death after being put on trial for the attack, but was later pardoned by the President of South Korea, Roh Tae-woo because it was deemed that she had been brainwashed in North Korea. Kim's testimony implicated Kim Jong Il, who at that time was the future leader of North Korea, as the person ultimately responsible for the incident. The United States Department of State specifically refers to the bombing of KAL 858 as a "terrorist act" and, except between 2008 and 2017, has since included North Korea on its State Sponsors of Terrorism list.Since the attack, diplomatic relations between North Korea and South Korea have not significantly improved, although some progress has been made in the form of four Inter-Korean summits. Kim Hyon-hui later released a book, The Tears of My Soul, in which she recalled being trained in an espionage school run by the North Korean army, and being told by her superiors that Kim Jong Il personally gave the order for the attack. She was branded a traitor by North Korea and became a critic of North Korea after seeing South Korea. Kim now resides in exile, and under constant tight security, fearing that the North Korean government wants to kill her. "Being a culprit, I do have a sense of agony with which I must fight", she said at a press conference in 1990. "In that sense I must still be a prisoner or a captive—of a sense of guilt."

Background

On 12 November 1987, two North Korean agents, Kim Sung-Il and Kim Hyon-hui, traveled from Pyongyang, North Korea, on an airliner to Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. From there, the agents left for Budapest, Hungary, the following morning, where they stayed in the house of a North Korean agent for six days. On 18 November, the pair traveled to Vienna, Austria, by car. After crossing the Austrian border, the guidance officer with whom they had stayed in Budapest gave the pair two forged Japanese passports, posing as tourists, father Shinichi Hachiya (蜂谷 眞一 Hachiya Shin'ichi) and daughter Mayumi Hachiya (蜂谷 眞由美 Hachiya Mayumi) staying in the Am Parkring Hotel in Vienna, the two purchased tickets from Austrian Airlines for flights that would take them from Vienna to Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), then on to Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, and finally Bahrain. They also purchased tickets from Abu Dhabi to Rome, Italy, for use in escaping after planting the bomb on the KAL flight.

On 27 November, two guidance officers who had arrived in Yugoslavia by train from Vienna gave them the time bomb, a Panasonic transistor radio made in Japan, which contained explosives, a detonator, and a bottle of liquid explosive intended to intensify the blast, disguised as a liquor bottle. The next day, they left Belgrade for Saddam International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq, on an Iraqi Airways flight. At the airport, they waited three hours and 30 minutes for the arrival of KAL 858—the target of their operation—which took off at around 11:30 p.m. The two bombers planted the improvised explosive device above their seats, 7B and 7C, and disembarked the aircraft at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

After the attack, the bombers attempted to fly from Abu Dhabi to Amman, Jordan—the first leg of their planned escape route—but there were complications with airport authorities regarding their travel visas; therefore, they were forced to fly to Bahrain, where they agreed they would travel to Rome. However, the authorities there became suspicious about their travel movements and the bombers' passports were identified as forgeries at the airport in Bahrain. Realising that they were about to be taken into custody, they both attempted suicide by ingesting cyanide hidden inside cigarettes. Kim Sung-il (as Shinichi Hachiya) was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, but the female, 25-year-old Kim Hyon-hui (as Mayumi Hachiya), survived. The body of Kim Sung-il was sent to South Korea and subsequently buried in the Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers.

Flight and explosion

The aircraft took off from Saddam International Airport (later renamed Baghdad International Airport) in Baghdad, Iraq around 11:30 p.m. (20:30 UTC), flying to Gimpo International Airport in Gangseo District, Seoul, South Korea, with stops at Abu Dhabi International Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

On the second leg of the flight, from Abu Dhabi to Thailand, KAL 858 was carrying 104 passengers and 11 crew members. At around 2:05 p.m. Korean Standard Time (05:05 UTC), nine hours after the bomb had been planted and near the end of the flight, the bomb detonated and the aircraft crashed into the Andaman Sea (1st conversion of units of measurement are not in same order as below) 18 mi west of the Burmese coast, killing all 115 on board. The pilot transmitted his final radio message shortly before the explosion: "We expect to arrive in Bangkok on time. Time and location normal."

One hundred thirteen of the people aboard were South Korean nationals, along with an Indian national and a Lebanese national. Many of the 113 South Korean nationals were young workers who were returning to their home country after working for several years in the construction industry in the Middle East. A South Korean diplomat, who worked at the embassy in Baghdad, and his wife, were also aboard the flight, though it is not known if they were the prime targets of the attack. Wreckage from the flight was found inland in Thailand around (2nd conversion units of measurements do not follow the same order as above) 140 km from where the detonation is thought to have occurred. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were not located.