Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking
Encyclopedia
The Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking occurred on 11 December 1969. The aircraft, a Korean Air Lines NAMC YS-11
flying a domestic route from Gangneung Airbase
in Gangneung
, Gangwon-do
to Gimpo International Airport
in Seoul
, was hijacked
at 12:25 PM by North Korea
n agent Cho Ch'ang-hǔi (조창희). It was carrying four crewmembers and 46 passengers (excluding Cho); 39 of the passengers were returned 66 days later, but the crew and seven passengers remained in North Korea, seen in the South as an example of North Korean abductions of South Koreans
.
, following which the aircraft changed direction and was joined by three North Korean fighter jets. The aircraft landed at Sǒndǒk Airfield near Wonsan
at 1:18 PM. North Korean soldiers boarded the aircraft afterwards, blindfolded the passengers, and instructed them to disembark. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair on landing. A member of the United States Air Force In South Korea
was scheduled to be a passenger on the ill-fated flight, but instead caught a military transport flight at the last minute.
North Korea claimed that the pilots had flown the aircraft there to protest the policies of then-President of South Korea
Park Chung-hee
. The passengers were subjected to attempts at indoctrination for up to four hours a day. The South Korean police initially suspected that the co-pilot conspired with two North Korean agents in the hijacking. The night after the hijacking, 100,000 South Koreans held a mass rally in freezing weather to protest the hijacking, and burned an effigy
of Kim Il-sung
.
On 25 December, North Korea proposed to hold talks on the matter. Talks were finally held in late January 1970. North Korea released 39 of the passengers on 14 February through the Joint Security Area
at Panmunjom, but kept the aircraft, crew, and remaining passengers. The statements provided by the released passengers refuted North Korea's claims that the hijacking was led by the pilots; instead, they pinned the blame on one of the passengers. One man claimed to have looked out the window of the aircraft despite instructions from the North Korean guards, and saw the hijacker being driven away in a black sedan. Another passenger was reported to have become mentally deranged as a result of his captivity, and lost the ability to speak
.
once commented that they were probably retained by North Korea specifically for their propaganda value. In 1992, Oh Kil-nam
claimed that the two flight attendants as well as Hwang and Gim were employed making propaganda broadcasts to the South; he also said he heard from his daughter that the captain and first officer were working for the Korean People's Air Force. The mother of one of the flight attendants, Seong Gyeong-hui, was allowed to visit the North to see her daughter as part of the family reunions agreed to in the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration; during their meeting, she claimed that she and the other flight attendant Jeong Gyeong-suk remained friends and were living in the same town.
Hwang In-cheol, the son of one of the unreturned victims Hwang Won, would go on to set up the Korean Air Flight YS-11 Families Committee in 2008 to press the South Korean government to further investigate the issue. In media comments in 2009, he stated that he felt particularly "alienated" by the mass media attention shown to the 2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea
, as compared to the relative lack of coverage of the fate of his father, whom he has not seen in 40 years. In June 2010, he applied to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Human Rights Council
to investigate the unreturned passengers as cases of forced disappearance
; he spent six months preparing the application, with the help of his friends.
The tail number of the aircraft, HL5208, was retired as a result of the incident.
Names are in Revised Romanization of Korean
.
NAMC YS-11
The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner built by a Japanese consortium, the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation. The program was initiated by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1954, the aircraft was rolled out in 1962, and production ceased in 1974.-Development and design:In...
flying a domestic route from Gangneung Airbase
Gangneung Airbase
Gangneung Airbase is an airbase holding the 18th fighter wing of the Republic of Korea Air Force. It is located in Gangneung, Gangwon-do. The airfield has one runway , and is ILS equipped on runway 23. In the past, this airfield also used to handle civilian air traffic...
in Gangneung
Gangneung
Gangneung is a city in Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 229,869 . Gangneung is the economic centre of the Yeongdong region of eastern Gangwon Province. Gangneung has many tourist attractions, like Jeongdongjin, one of the most famous towns in Korea...
, Gangwon-do
Gangwon-do (South Korea)
Gangwon-do is a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Korea in 1945, Gangwon and its North Korean neighbour Kangwŏn formed a single province.-History:...
to Gimpo International Airport
Gimpo International Airport
Gimpo International Airport , commonly known as Gimpo Airport , is located in the far western end of Seoul and was the main international airport for Seoul and South Korea before it was replaced by Incheon International Airport in 2001...
in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
, was hijacked
Aircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
at 12:25 PM by North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
n agent Cho Ch'ang-hǔi (조창희). It was carrying four crewmembers and 46 passengers (excluding Cho); 39 of the passengers were returned 66 days later, but the crew and seven passengers remained in North Korea, seen in the South as an example of North Korean abductions of South Koreans
North Korean abductions of South Koreans
An estimated 84,532 South Koreans were taken to North Korea during the Korean War. In addition, South Korean statistics claim that, since the Korean Armistice in 1953, about 3,800 people have been abducted in North Korea , 480 of whom are still being held by North Korea.- Two types of Abductees...
.
Incident
According to passenger testimony, one of the passengers rose from his seat 10 minutes after takeoff and entered the cockpitCockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
, following which the aircraft changed direction and was joined by three North Korean fighter jets. The aircraft landed at Sǒndǒk Airfield near Wonsan
Wonsan
Wŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 331,000 in 2000. Notable people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...
at 1:18 PM. North Korean soldiers boarded the aircraft afterwards, blindfolded the passengers, and instructed them to disembark. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair on landing. A member of the United States Air Force In South Korea
United States Air Force In South Korea
The United States Air Force In South Korea is composed of units assigned to Pacific Air Forces Seventh Air Force. The mission of the personnel, equipment and aircraft is to deter, protect and defend the Republic of Korea from attack from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or more commonly...
was scheduled to be a passenger on the ill-fated flight, but instead caught a military transport flight at the last minute.
North Korea claimed that the pilots had flown the aircraft there to protest the policies of then-President of South Korea
President of South Korea
The President of the Republic of Korea is, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, chief executive of the government, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the head of state of the Republic of Korea...
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee
Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...
. The passengers were subjected to attempts at indoctrination for up to four hours a day. The South Korean police initially suspected that the co-pilot conspired with two North Korean agents in the hijacking. The night after the hijacking, 100,000 South Koreans held a mass rally in freezing weather to protest the hijacking, and burned an effigy
Effigy
An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...
of Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung
Kim Il-sung was a Korean communist politician who led the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death...
.
On 25 December, North Korea proposed to hold talks on the matter. Talks were finally held in late January 1970. North Korea released 39 of the passengers on 14 February through the Joint Security Area
Joint Security Area
The Joint Security Area is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the "Truce Village" in both the media and various military accounts...
at Panmunjom, but kept the aircraft, crew, and remaining passengers. The statements provided by the released passengers refuted North Korea's claims that the hijacking was led by the pilots; instead, they pinned the blame on one of the passengers. One man claimed to have looked out the window of the aircraft despite instructions from the North Korean guards, and saw the hijacker being driven away in a black sedan. Another passenger was reported to have become mentally deranged as a result of his captivity, and lost the ability to speak
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
.
Aftermath
The fate of most of the unreturned passengers has not been confirmed. They were educated, upper-class people; Song Yeong-in of the National Intelligence ServiceNational Intelligence Service (South Korea)
The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the...
once commented that they were probably retained by North Korea specifically for their propaganda value. In 1992, Oh Kil-nam
Oh Kil-nam
Oh Kil-nam is a retired South Korean economist, who defected to North Korea with his wife Shin Suk-jaand daughters, then left them behind to obtain political asylum in Europe.-Early life and education:...
claimed that the two flight attendants as well as Hwang and Gim were employed making propaganda broadcasts to the South; he also said he heard from his daughter that the captain and first officer were working for the Korean People's Air Force. The mother of one of the flight attendants, Seong Gyeong-hui, was allowed to visit the North to see her daughter as part of the family reunions agreed to in the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration; during their meeting, she claimed that she and the other flight attendant Jeong Gyeong-suk remained friends and were living in the same town.
Hwang In-cheol, the son of one of the unreturned victims Hwang Won, would go on to set up the Korean Air Flight YS-11 Families Committee in 2008 to press the South Korean government to further investigate the issue. In media comments in 2009, he stated that he felt particularly "alienated" by the mass media attention shown to the 2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea
2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea
On March 17, 2009, North Korean border guards detained two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were working for the U.S. independent cable television network Current TV, after they crossed into North Korea from the People's Republic of China without a visa. They were found guilty of...
, as compared to the relative lack of coverage of the fate of his father, whom he has not seen in 40 years. In June 2010, he applied to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Human Rights Council
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
to investigate the unreturned passengers as cases of forced disappearance
Forced disappearance
In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...
; he spent six months preparing the application, with the help of his friends.
The tail number of the aircraft, HL5208, was retired as a result of the incident.
List of unreturned passengers and crew
All four crew, as well as seven passengers, were not returned to the South.- Yu Byeong-ha (유병하), captain
- Choe Seok-man (최석만), first officer
- Jeong Gyeong-suk (정경숙), flight attendant
- Seong Gyeong-hui (성경희), flight attendant
- Yi Dong-gi (이동기), manager of a printing company in Gangneung
- Hwang Won (황원), programme director at Munhwa Broadcasting CorporationMunhwa Broadcasting CorporationMunhwa Broadcasting Corporation Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC (Hangul : 문화방송주식회사, Munhwa Bangsong Jushikoesa) is one of four major national South Korean television and radio networks. Munhwa is the Korean word for "culture". Its flagship terrestrial television...
(MBC) - Gim Bongju (김봉주), cameraman at MBC
- Chae Heon-deok (채헌덕), doctor
- Im Cheol-su (임철수)
- Jang Ki-yeong (장기영)
- Choe Jeong-ung (최정웅)
Names are in Revised Romanization of Korean
Revised Romanization of Korean
The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea proclaimed by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, replacing the older McCune–Reischauer system...
.