, registration HL-7406, was a
Boeing 707-3B5C aircraft which exploded over the
Andaman Sea en route from
Baghdad International Airport ,
Baghdad ,
Iraq and
Abu Dhabi International Airport ,
Abu Dhabi ,
United Arab Emirates , to Old Bangkok International Airport (now
Don Mueang International Airport ),
Bangkok ,
Thailand and
Gimpo Airport ,
Seoul ,
South Korea on
November 29 ,
1987 . All 115 on board were killed.
Officials in the UAE and in South Korea quickly identified two suspects in the bombing, a man and a woman with fake Japanese passports who had boarded the flight in Baghdad and departed at Abu Dhabi. The pair quickly left Abu Dhabi for
Bahrain . When they attempted to leave Bahrain, airport authorities confirmed that their Japanese passport were fakes and arrested the pair. 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.
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In January of 1988, Ms. Kim announced at a press conference held by the South Korean
Agency For National Security Planning (the equivalent of the United States
CIA ) that both she and her partner were
North Korea n 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
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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
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The bombing is as of
October 2006 the deadliest
Terrorist Attack against South Korea.
Korean Air Flight 007
