Charges on Korean plane crash aired in Security Council.

Charges on Korean plane crash aired in Security Council

The Security Council has considered allegations that two North Korean "special agents" planted a time-bomb on a Korean Air Lines (KAL) plane in November 1987, causing it to explode in mind-air off the coast of Burma. North Korea categorically rejected all charges and blamed South Korea, Japan and the United States for the incident.

Meetings were held on 16 and 17 February at the requests of the Republic of Korea and Japan, at which the Council discussed the charges.

Statements were made by: Argentina, Bahrain, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, France, Germany, Federal Republic of, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, USSR, United States, Yugoslavia.

The Republic of Korea presented to the Council a document (S/19488) detailing the findings of an investigation it conducted concerning the destructions of Korean Air Lines flight 858, which resulted in the deaths of all 115 passengers and crew members. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea also submitted a document (S/19492) containing statements it said conveyed the "truth of the KAL incident".

According to South Korea, two North Koreans--a 70 year-old man and a 26-year-old woman posing as father and daughter and carrying false Japanese passports--boarded a regular KAL flight from Baghdad to Seoul, placed explosives in an overhead luggage compartment, and disembarked at its first stop at Abu Dhabi. Nine hours later, the bomb exploded and the plane went down into the Andaman Sea off Burma. The man and woman went on to Bahrain, where they were stopped and held for questioning. They then ate poison ampules hidden in the filtertips of cigarettes they were smoking. The man died. The woman survived, and was extradited to South Korea, where South Korean authorities stated she had confessed on 23 December.

In Council debate, Foreign Minister Kwang Soo Choi of the Republic of Korea said the "heinous act of State-directed terrorism" by North Korea was intended to disrupt the Olympic games in Seoul this year.

Pak Gil Yon of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said the KAL incident was a "drama writen and enacted by the highest South Korean authorities themselves" and the outcome of the "insecure political situation within South Korea". Japan and the United States had helped South Korea "fake the false drama", he said.

Hideo Kagami of Japan said his country was also a victim of the incident since the North Korean agents had pretended to be Japanese. "Unless we confront terrorist act such as this, we will be faced with the destruction of the safety and order of international civil aviation," he said.

Karim Ebrahim Al-Shakar of Bahrain rejected North Korean allegations of involvement in the incident. His Government had conducted investigations and extradited the young woman because it "loves justice and peace" and because Islamic law prohibits the "terrorizing of innocents and aggression against their property and their lives".

Protocol against airport violence adopted

A Protocol for the suppression of unlawful acts of violence at airports was adopted by consensus on 25 February at an international conference on air law held at the Montreal headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It will come into force after ratification by 10 States.

The Protocol supplements the 1971 Montreal Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation. It foresees severe penalties for unlawful acts of violence against persons at an airport serving international civil aviation.

Signatory States will be expected to establish their jurisdiction over the offence not only if the offence is committed in their territory but also when the alleged offender is present in their territory and the offence was committed elsewhere. They would have the choice either to extradite the offender to the State where the act was committed or to present the case to their own authorities for the purpose of prosecution.