Korean Air Flight 858

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**Korean Air Flight 858**
Summary
Date	November 29, 1987
Type	Airliner bombing
Site	over the Andaman Sea
Origin	Baghdad International Airport
Last stopover	Abu Dhabi International Airport
Destination	Don Mueang International Airport
Passengers	104
Crew	11
Injuries	0
Fatalities	115
Survivors	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-3B5C
Operator	Korean Air
Tail number	HL-7406

Korean Air Flight 858 was en route from Abu Dhabi to Bangkok on 29 November 1987 when it exploded over the Andaman Sea killing all 115 on board. Two North Korean agents had boarded the plane in Baghdad and departed during its stopover in Abu Dhabi having left a time bomb in an overhead compartment and were arrested when they attempted to leave Bahrain using fake Japanese passports. Both immediately swallowed cyanide capsules. The male, later identified as 70-year-old Kim Sung Il, died almost instantly, but the female suspect, 26-year-old Kim Hyon Hui, survived.^[1]

On 15 December 1988 Kim Hyon Hui was transferred to Seoul where she recovered from the poison and, after seeing life in South Korea on television, realized that she been "exploited as a tool for North Korean terrorist activities", and made a detailed and voluntary confession^[2] detailing her travels under guidance of North Korean agents from Pyongyang via Moscow, Budapest, Vienna, Belgrade, and eventually to Baghdad where the bomb was primed. The escape route was to be from Abu Dhabi via Amman to Rome but was diverted to Bahrian due to visa complications.^[3]

In January of 1988, Ms. Kim announced at a press conference held by the Agency for National Security Planning, the South Korean secret services agency, that both she and her partner were North Korean operatives. She said that they had left a radio containing 350 grams of C-4 explosive and a liquor bottle containing approximately 700 ml of PLX explosive in an overhead rack in the passenger cabin of the aircraft. Kim expressed remorse at her actions and asked for the forgiveness of the families of those who had died. She also said that the order for the bombing had been "personally penned" by Kim Jong Il, then the son of North Korean President Kim Il Sung, who had wanted to destabilize the South Korean government. An article written by Peter Maass for the Washington Post and dated January 15, 1988 [1] states that it was unknown whether Ms. Kim was coerced in her remarks or in her remorse for her actions.

The United States State Department specifically refers to the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 as a "terrorist act" and listed North Korea as a Designated State Sponsor of Terrorism [2] based on the results of the South Korean investigation.

The action was discussed at length in at least two United Nations Security Council meetings where the allegations and evidence was aired by all sides,^[4]^[5] but no resolution was passed.^[6]

This act is the deadliest terrorist attack ever perpetrated against South Korea.