Charges on Korean plane crash aired in Security Council.

• Position: Korean Air Lines mid-air explosion in November 1987 - Includes related article

Charges on Korean plane crash aired in Security Council

The Security Council has considered allegations that two North Korean "special agents" planted a time-bomb on a Korean Air Lines (KAL) plane in November 1987, causing it to explode in mind-air off the coast of Burma. North Korea categorically rejected all charges and blamed South Korea, Japan and the United States for the incident.

Meetings were held on 16 and 17 February at the requests of the Republic of Korea and Japan, at which the Council discussed the charges.

Statements were made by: Argentina, Bahrain, China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, France, Germany, Federal Republic of, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, USSR, United States, Yugoslavia.

The Republic of Korea presented to the Council a document (S/19488) detailing the findings of an investigation it conducted concerning the destructions of Korean Air Lines flight 858, which resulted in the deaths of all 115 passengers and crew members. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea also submitted a document (S/19492) containing statements it said conveyed the "truth of the KAL incident".

According to South Korea, two North Koreans--a 70 year-old man and a 26-year-old woman posing as father and daughter and carrying false Japanese passports--boarded a regular KAL flight from Baghdad to Seoul, placed explosives in an overhead luggage compartment, and disembarked at its first stop at Abu Dhabi. Nine hours later, the bomb exploded and the plane went down into the Andaman Sea off Burma. The man and woman went on to Bahrain, where they were stopped and held for questioning. They then ate poison ampules hidden in the filtertips of cigarettes they were smoking. The man died. The woman survived, and was extradited to South Korea, where South Korean authorities stated she had confessed on 23 December.

In Council debate, Foreign Minister Kwang Soo Choi of the Republic of Korea said the "heinous act of State-directed terrorism" by North Korea was intended to disrupt the Olympic games in Seoul this year.

Pak Gil Yon of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said the KAL incident was a "drama writen and enacted by the highest South Korean authorities...