Saddam International Airport (Now Baghdad International Airport), Baghdad, Iraq
1st stopover
Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2nd stopover
Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand
Destination
Gimpo International Airport, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Occupants
115
Passengers
104
Crew
11
Fatalities
115
Survivors
0
v
t
e
Division of Korea Post-armistice conflicts
Border incidents
DMZ conflicts
1966–1969 conflict
Blue House raid
Uljin–Samcheok Landings
Major Henderson incident
Axe murder incident
NLL conflicts
1st Yeonpyeong
2nd Yeonpyeong
Daecheong
Cheonan incident
3rd Yeonpyeong
Other maritime incidents
Dangpo incident
June 1974 ROK Coast Guard ship incident
Pueblo incident
EC-121 shootdown
Gangneung
Sokcho
Yeosu
Terror attacks
Rangoon bombing
Gimpo International Airport bombing
KAL Flight 858
1993-1994 tensions
1994 North Korean nuclear crisis
Agreed Framework
2013 Korean crisis
South Korea cyberattack
Panama ship seizure
Post-crisis threats
2017–18 North Korea crisis
Hwasong missile tests
2018–19 Korean peace process
1st Inter-Korean Summit
Panmunjom Declaration
2nd Inter-Korean Summit
2018 Singapore Summit
3rd Inter-Korean Summit
2019 Hanoi Summit
2019 DMZ Summit
Korean Air Flight 858 was a scheduled international passenger flight between Baghdad, Iraq, and Seoul, South Korea. On 29 November 1987, the aircraft flying that 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 were South Koreans). 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 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 personally by Kim Jong Il to carry out 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.[1] "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."[2]
^"North Korean ex-spy who blew up jetliner: Don't trust Kim Jong Un". NBC News. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
^Cite error: The named reference Huidresses was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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