Passenger and Cockpit Isolation on Commercial Aircraft [Sokcho·Goseong's Pain③]

Abduction Attempted from the Sky... Crew Members Killed in the Line of Duty
North Korean Pilot Claims Voluntary Defection, Some Passengers Detained
Japanese Passenger Plane Hijacked by Red Army Faction, Flown to North Korea

Editor's NoteThe setting of the movie 'Hijacking' is Sokcho, Gangwon Province in 1971. Yongdae (Yeo Jin-gu), who boarded the passenger plane, detonates a homemade bomb shortly after takeoff. He quickly takes control of the cockpit and terrorizes the passengers. "From now on, this plane is heading north of the border." There are two main backgrounds for the hijacking: handing over the passenger plane to North Korea and the benefits received, and liberation from an oppressed life. The painful wounds of division have continuously constrained life. Families were monitored and controlled simply because they had defected to the North or were abducted. The pain was too great to just cover up and move on as a thing of the past. It is a painful wound that must be revisited and resolved.

The movie 'Hijacking' is based on a true story. It is about the attempted hijacking of a Korean Air passenger plane in January 1971. On an F-27 twin-engine aircraft carrying sixty passengers from Sokcho to Gimpo Airport, twenty-two-year-old Kim Sang-tae demanded to defect to the North with a homemade explosive device. The crew and passengers cleverly averted the crisis. They created an atmosphere of mourning for the defection, and taking advantage of the moment when tensions eased, they shot him with a pistol. During this process, trainee pilot Jeon Myeong-se was seriously injured while shielding the ignited homemade bomb with his body.

Choi Won-moon, Honorary Chairman of the Korea Aircraft Technology Association, recalled in his book Raising Dreams in the Sky: "A hijacking attempt occurred on the Sokcho-bound F-27. During the struggle, one flight crew member died, and ten passengers were injured. The plane made an emergency landing on a beach sandbar and was severely damaged. Both the company (Korean Air) and government and civilian agencies were put on high alert."

Kim Sang-tae, who was shot dead at the scene, had unclear motives for attempting to hijack the passenger plane. It seemed likely that he believed rumors that those who had successfully defected to North Korea lived comfortably there. The movie 'Hijacking' also covers the December 1969 hijacking of a Korean Air passenger plane (YS-11) departing from Gangneung. Spy Jo Chang-hee threatened forty-seven passengers and four crew members and forced the plane to make an emergency landing at Seondeok Airfield near Wonsan.

North Korea announced via Pyongyang Broadcasting that two pilots had voluntarily defected. Our government and the United Nations' demands for the return of passengers and the aircraft were rejected. Protests condemning North Korea broke out across the country amid stalled negotiations. Major airlines worldwide also issued statements condemning the atrocity. North Korea expressed willingness to repatriate in February the following year. However, contrary to the promise, only thirty-nine passengers were returned through Panmunjom. Four crew members and eight passengers were not sent back.

The government introduced strong aviation security measures. Chairman Choi recalled, "Gimpo Airport entered an ultra-high alert state to strengthen security for passengers and aircraft." "Measures such as enhanced passenger identity verification, installation of metal detectors for security screening, and boarding of security officers were prepared and immediately implemented. Amid this, a Japan Airlines B-727 twin-engine jet passenger plane 'Yodoho' was hijacked by nine members of the Red Army Faction and forced to make an emergency landing at Gimpo Airport while flying to North Korea. This further tightened the tense atmosphere at the airport. Until then, the cockpit and passengers had been accessible to each other, but the installation of bulletproof partitions to isolate the cockpit was hastily carried out."

The first passenger plane hijacked in South Korea was the Korean National Airlines (KNA) DC-3 'Changrangho.' In February 1958, while departing from Busan Suyeong Airfield en route to Seoul Yeouido Airport, it was hijacked by seven North Korean agents. They knocked two soldiers unconscious with hammers and threatened the pilots with carbines and shotguns. Changrangho was forced to land beyond the armistice line at Sunan Airfield in South Pyongan Province. North Korea returned twenty-six passengers, including one American pilot, after eighteen days of captivity. However, the aircraft was not returned.