On September 1, 1983, a Korean Airlines Boeing 747 jet took off from New York City to Seoul, South Korea at 4:00 a.m. The jetliner carried a total of 269 people on it, 246 passengers and 23 crew. Of the passengers onboard, 61 were U.S. citizens, one being Congressman Rep. Larry McDonald, an outspoken anti-communist. The journey of the plane took the passenger jet over Anchorage, Alaska. However, little did the pilots and passengers know that the autopilot of the plane was set up incorrectly and would put them on a course to cross over into Soviet territory. As airliner drifted off its intended course into dangerous territory, its pilots made no note of the error and announced to the passengers that the plane was about to land in 3 hours.
In Eastern Russia, the generals in the military were alerted to an aircraft crossing over into their territory. Sukhoi Su-15 fighter jets were sent to intercept the plane, which was suspected to be an American spy plane. It was during the night, so the military jets didn't get a very clear view of the 747 passenger jet. However, the pilot, Colonel Gennadi Osipovitch that shot down the plane reported seeing two row of lighted windows, and noted that spy or military planes wouldn't have the windows. He fired two warning tracers, but the pilots didn't respond. Osipovitch was given final orders from Soviet command to shoot down the plane, which he promptly followed, even though no radio or verbal communication attempts had been made. According to recent interviews, Osipovitch still believes that that plane he shot down had no civilian passengers on it.
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| Time Magazine's September 12, 1983 cover of KAL 007. Note that the jet in reality was not totally obliterated by missiles, but was rather struck in the rear section, causing rapid decompression and major loss of control via destruction of the hydraulics systems. The plane spiraled downwards before crashing. |
This mistake drove both sides into immediate suspicion and outrage. Reagan was livid about the incident and accused the Soviet Union of perpetrating a "massacre," a "crime against humanity," and having "absolutely no justification, legal or moral." The Soviet Union's leader at the time, Yuri Andropov, propagated that the incident was a "sophisticated provocation masterminded by the U.S. special services with the use of a South Korean plane." The shootdown elevated the tensions between the two major opponents of the Cold War.
The USSR's refusal to release the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder black boxes further frustrated the relations between the two powers. In addition, Soviet authorities would not reveal whether they found survivors, bodies, or even the wreckage of the plane off Sakahlin Island. However, relatives of the passengers such as Hans Ephraimson-Abt formed the American Association for Families of KAL 007 Victims in order to rally for the cause of recovering more information about what really happened. Finally, after the fall of the Soviet Union less than a decade later, Russian president Boris Yeltsin cooperated with the United States and agreed to release the tapes. The data and recordings appeared to match the incident of the Soviets accidentally shooting down a civilian jetliner.
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| Artists' conceptual renderings of the incident. |
Despite the release of the black boxes by the Russian government, a few still believed that the official explanations put forth by the US and Russian governments were not completely accurate. Conspiracy theories promptly ensued. Even though clothing and other personal items were found, the lack of bodies or body parts found by the rescue and search teams raised suspicions on the passenger's statuses and whereabouts. Some people propose that the plane shot down was really a military or spy plane, and that the US is covering it up. Others propose that the plane didn't crash into the ocean, but was either non-fatally damaged or captured by the Soviets. These people hypothesized that the passengers and crew were captured instead and imprisoned. Some even say that there was an air battle between U.S. and Soviet fighter jets, and that KAL 007 was caught in the crossfire. Sadly, a similar incident happened just 5 years after the shootdown of KAL 007, when Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by the US Navy in Persian Gulf during a confrontation between the USS Vincennes and Iranian gunboats, killing 290 civilians. These tragedies show the unintended toll a conflict between two belligerents can have on unsuspecting innocent people, no matter the nationality of either.
Mayday's Full Dramatization of the Event: "Target is Destroyed" (Interesting!)
This is a really detailed post, Robert! It's something that the textbook kind of glazes over and that we didn't have much time to talk about in class, so it's really great that you got to do an in-depth look at the KAL 007 flight. It's really amazing how immense the tensions were between the US and the USSR that something like this could happen. But, at the very least, it is a learning opportunity for future conflicts. Countries, despite their conflicts, should be more open to communication in order to protect the lives of civilians.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example of US-Soviet relations Robert. Like Zach said this gave me much more of a detailed, in depth overview of the tragic incident that took place. It is really interesting to see how such political obstacles can have such a real consequence for just regular people like you and me. I hope that as peace loving nations in the modern world, we can look back on such tragedies as this and the Iran flight 655 and take precautions for this to never happen again. Great job Robert
ReplyDeleteThis is an impressive post. I find the concept of international airspace to be a sophisticated and extremely controversial one. While it is easy to blame the Soviets for this incident, I can also see how it may be justified, to some degree, from a military aspect. This incident reminds me of the recent situation of China declaring an extension of their airspace. Although this goes against some international regulations, a similar disaster like this one may occur if airliners do not comply with their newly established airspace.
ReplyDeleteThis is an exceptional post Robert. This is indeed a controversial issue that worsened the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. I've talked with my parents regarding this issue before and they told me that at that time, the South Korean government announced that the attacks were made by the North Koreans. I honestly think the SK government just wanted to put a even wider gap and make clear distinctions between the North and the South.
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