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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 North Korean agents. The two agents, acting upon orders from the North Korean government, planted the device in an overhead storage bin 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 on board the aircraft, 104 passengers and 11 crew members, most of whom were South Koreans, were killed. 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 realised they were about to be taken into custody. The male of the pair died, but the female, 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, until 2008, listed North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. 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 two Inter-Korean Summits. Kim 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 the DPRK, after seeing South Korea, and becoming a critic of North Korea. Kim now resides in exile, and under constant tight security, fearing that the North Korean government wants to kill her.〔(Newshour ), BBC, 23 April 2013, 20:00.〕 "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."〔 == History == On 12 November 1987, the two North Korean agents traveled from Pyongyang, North Korea on an airliner to Moscow, then in the Soviet Union.〔 From there, the agents left for Budapest, Hungary, the following morning, where they stayed in the home of a North Korean agent for six days.〔 On 18 November, the pair traveled to Vienna, Austria by automobile. After crossing the Austrian border, the guidance officer with whom they had stayed in Budapest gave the pair two forged Japanese passports. Posing as tourists staying in the Am Parkring Hotel in Vienna, the two purchased tickets from Austrian Airlines for flights which would take them from Vienna to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, then on to Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, and finally Bahrain.〔 They also purchased tickets from Abu Dhabi to Rome, Italy, for use in escaping after planting the bomb on the KAL flight.〔 Retrieved 16 October 2010〕 On 27 November, two guidance officers who had arrived in Yugoslavia by train from Vienna gave them the time bomb, a Panasonic transistor radio made in Japan, which contained explosives, a detonator, and a bottle of liquid explosive intended to intensify the blast, disguised as a liquor bottle.〔〔 The next day, they left Belgrade for Saddam International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on an Iraqi Airways flight.〔 At the airport, they waited three hours and 30 minutes for the arrival of KAL 858 – the target of their operation – which took off at around 11:30 pm〔 The two bombers planted the improvised explosive device above their seats, 7B and 7C, and disembarked the aircraft at Abu Dhabi International Airport.〔 On the second leg of the flight, from Abu Dhabi to Thailand, KAL 858 was carrying 104 passengers and 11 crew members.〔 At around 2:05 pm Korea Standard Time (KST),〔 nine hours after the bomb was planted and towards the end of the flight, the bomb detonated and the aircraft exploded over the Andaman Sea (), killing all 115 on board.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.x-rayscreener.com/?CategoryID=332&ArticleID=161 )〕 The pilot transmitted his final radio message shortly before the explosion: "We expect to arrive in Bangkok on time. Time and location normal."〔 113 of the people aboard were South Korean nationals, along with an Indian national and a Lebanese national.〔 Many of the 113 South Korean nationals were young workers who were returning to their home country after working for several years in the construction industry in the Middle East.〔 Retrieved 16 October 2010〕 A South Korean diplomat, who worked at the embassy in Baghdad, and his wife, were also aboard the flight,〔 though it is not known if they were the prime targets of the attack.〔 Wreckage from the flight washed up on a Thai beach. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were not located.〔 After the attack, the bombers attempted to fly from Abu Dhabi to Amman, Jordan – the first leg of their planned escape route – but there were complications with airport authorities regarding their visas; therefore they were forced to fly to Bahrain, where they agreed they would travel to Rome.〔 However, the bombers' passports were identified as forgeries at the airport in Bahrain.〔 Realising that they were about to be taken into custody, they both attempted suicide by ingesting cyanide hidden inside cigarettes.〔 Kim Sung-il was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead, but the female, 25-year-old Kim Hyon Hui, survived.〔 The body of Kim Sung-il was sent to South Korea and subsequently buried in the Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Korean Air Flight 858」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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