1969 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking

1969 aircraft hijacking and state-sponsored abductions December 2025 1969 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking Accident Korean Airlines YS-11A Cargo type 大韓航空.jpg 230px A Korean Air Lines NAMC YS-11 registration HL5206 in 1971; it is similar to the one involved in the hijacking. 11 December 1969 Hijacking by North Koreans South Korean airspace NAMC YS-11 Korean Air Lines HL5208 Gangneung Airbase, Gangneung, Gangwon, South Korea Gimpo International Airport, Seoul, South Korea 47 4 0 (presumed) 51 (presumed, including hijacker and all abductees. 39 passengers were returned to South Korea.) 11? (Excluding hijacker. 2 passengers + 2 crew reported alive in North Korea since the incident. Remaining 5 passengers + 2 crew unknown.) The 1969 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking occurred on 11 December 1969. The aircraft, a Korean Air Lines NAMC YS-11 flying a domestic route from Gangneung Airbase in Gangneung, Gangwon, South Korea to Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, was hijacked at 12:25 PM by North Korean agent Cho Ch'ang-hŭi (ko 조창희).http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19691211-0 Hijacking description Aviation Safety Network 20 February 2009http://www.dailynk.com/korean/read.php?cataId=nk06100&num=65392 Daily NK 39년전 대한민국은 국민 11명을 北에 버렸다 12 December 2008 6 July 2007 Gim Su-yeol It was carrying 4 crew members and 46 passengers (excluding Cho); 39 of the passengers were returned two months later, but the crew and seven passengers remained in North Korea. The incident is seen in the South as an example of the North Korean abductions of South Koreans.http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2010061003328 The Dong-a Ilbo 10 June 2010 7 July 2010 Son of NK Kidnap Victim Seeks UN's Help Incident According to passenger testimony, one of the passengers rose from his seat 10 minutes after takeoff and entered the cockpit, following which the aircraft changed direction and was joined by three Korean People's Air Force fighter jets.Freed Koreans Retell Hijacking 16 February 1970 7 July 2010 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GdAVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aBEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6676,2780148 https://archive.today/20130125195655/http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GdAVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aBEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6676,2780148 dead 25 January 2013 Milwaukee Sentinel The aircraft landed at Sǒndǒk Airfield near Wonsan at 1:18 pm.http://www.encyber.com/search_w/ctdetail.php?masterno=756923&contentno=756923 KAL기피랍사건 Doosan Encyclopedia 2010 7 July 2010December 2017 InternetArchiveBot yes North Korean soldiers boarded the aircraft afterwards, blindfolded the passengers, and instructed them to disembark. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair on landing. A member of the United States Air Force in South Korea was scheduled to be a passenger on the flight, but instead took a military transport flight at the last minute.The Bryan Times 11 December 1969 7 July 2010 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r0ILAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SlIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3455,4178025 Piracy act charged by South Korea North Korea claimed that the pilots had flown the aircraft there to protest against the policies of then-President of South Korea Park Chung Hee. The passengers were subjected to attempts at indoctrination for up to four hours a day. The South Korean police initially suspected that the co-pilot conspired with two North Korean agents in the hijacking.Los Angeles Times https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/585180972.html?dids=585180972:585180972&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+15,+1969&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=COPILOT+SUSPECTED+IN+KOREAN+HIJACKING&pqatl=google Copilot suspected in Korean hijacking 15 December 1969 7 July 2010 2 November 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20121102211711/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/585180972.html?dids=585180972:585180972&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+15,+1969&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=COPILOT+SUSPECTED+IN+KOREAN+HIJACKING&pqatl=google dead The night after the hijacking, 100,000 South Koreans held a mass rally in freezing weather to protest against the hijacking, and burned an effigy of Kim Il Sung.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rjAVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PfgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1247,3859561 Spokane Daily Chronicle Hijacking Hit 12 December 1969 7 July 2010 On 25 December, North Korea proposed to hold talks on the matter.https://www.nytimes.com/1969/12/26/archives/talks-on-hijacking-proposed-by-north-to-south-koreans.html 16 December 1969 7 July 2010 The New York Times Talks on Hijacking Proposed by North To South Koreans Talks were finally held in late January 1970.2 Sides Meet in Korea https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/27/archives/2-sides-meet-in-korea.html The New York Times 27 January 1970 7 July 2010 Sixty-six days after the incident, North Korea released 39 of the passengers on 14 February through the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom, but kept the aircraft, crew and remaining passengers.https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/15/archives/north-korea-releases-39-in-hijacking.html The New York Times North Korea Releases 39 in Hijacking 15 February 1970 7 July 2010 The statements provided by the released passengers refuted North Korea's claims that the hijacking was led by the pilots; instead, they blamed one of the passengers. One man claimed to have looked out the window of the aircraft despite instructions from the North Korean guards, and saw the hijacker being driven away in a black sedan. Another passenger was reported to have become mentally deranged as a result of his captivity, and lost the ability to speak. Aftermath The fate of most of the unreturned passengers has not been confirmed. They were educated, upper-class people; Song Yeong-in, formerly of the National Intelligence Service, commented at the families' committee inaugural meeting in 2008 that they were probably retained by North Korea specifically for their propaganda value.http://english.nkradio.org/news/231 Open Radio for North Korea Fate of Abducted Korean Airlines Passengers Still Unclear Um Han-Ah 5 October 2007 29 December 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20110727125110/http://english.nkradio.org/news/231 27 July 2011 Oh Kil-nam, who defected to the North for a time in 1986, said that he met the two flight attendants as well as the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation employees Hwang and Kim (see the list below) employed for making propaganda broadcasts to the Southhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17767626 BBC News The terrible price of a Korean defection 24 April 2012 and that later he heard from his daughter that the captain and first officer were working for the Korean People's Air Force. The flight attendant Seong Gyeong-hui's mother was allowed to visit the North in 2001 to see her daughter as part of the family reunions agreed to in the June 15th North–South Joint Declaration; there Seong said that she and the other flight attendant Jeong Gyeong-suk remained friends and were living in the same town. Son of unreturned passenger Hwang Won, Hwang In-cheol, who was only 2 years old at the time of the hijacking, set up the Korean Air Flight YS-11 Families Committee in 2008 to press the South Korean government to further investigate the issue. In 2009, he stated that he felt particularly "alienated" by the mass media attention shown to the 2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea lasting 141 days, compared to the relative lack of coverage of the fate of his father, also a journalist, whom he has not seen in 40 years.http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02500&num=5266 7 August 2009 29 December 2017 141 Days of Hell, What about 40 Years? The Daily NK Kim Tae-Hong In June 2010, he applied to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the unreturned passengers as cases of forced disappearance; he spent six months preparing the application, with the help of his friends. In February 2012, he filed a lawsuit against the North Korean spy who kidnapped his father.https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/02/117_104850.html S. Korean files suit against alleged NK spy over his abducted father The Korea Times 14 February 2012 29 December 2017 Paid copy as http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2012/02/14/0401000000AEN20120214011700315.HTML S. Korean files suit against alleged N. Korean spy over his abducted father Yonhap News Agency 14 February 2012 29 December 2017 The tail number of the aircraft, HL5208, was retired as a result of the incident.https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/06/119_32451.html The Korea Times Planes Have Retired Numbers Kim Rahn 10 September 2009 6 July 2010 List of unreturned passengers and crew All four crew, as well as seven passengers, were not returned to the South.http://www.independent.co.kr/news/article.html?no=42329 Dongrip Shinmun 41년 만에 유엔서 재조명되는 북한의 국제범죄 18 June 2010 7 July 2010 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110722134249/http://www.independent.co.kr/news/article.html?no=42329 22 July 2011 The ages listed are those as of the time of the hijacking.http://nk.chosun.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=4429 KAL납북사건: 강릉→서울 비행중 고정간첩이 납치 The Chosun Ilbo 27 February 2002 22 January 2016 Yu Byeong-ha (ko 유병하, 38) of Seoul, captain Choe Seok-man (ko 최석만, 37) of Seoul, first officer Jeong Gyeong-suk (ko 정경숙, 24) of Seoul, flight attendant. Reported alive 2001 y. Seong Gyeong-hui (ko 성경희, 23) of Seoul, flight attendant. Confirmed alive 2001 y.http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2001/nwdesk/article/1874802_30743.html 1969년 납북된 Kal기 스튜어디스 성경희씨가 전한 소식[문소현] 27 February 2001 Lee Dong-gi (ko 이동기, 49) of Miryang, manager of a printing company Hwang Won (ko 황원, 32) of Gangneung, programme director at Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). Reported alive 1986 y. Kim Bong-ju (ko 김봉주, 27) of Gangneung, cameraman at MBC. Reported alive 1986 y. Chae Heon-deok (ko 채헌덕, 37) of Gangneung, doctor Lim Cheol-su (ko 임철수, 49) of Yanggu, office worker Jang Ki-yeong (ko 장기영, 40) of Uijeongbu, food industry businessman Choe Jeong-ung (ko 최정웅, 28) of Wonju, Hankook Slate Company employee In popular culture The incident is mentioned at the beginning of the Korean film Hijack 1971, produced in 2024 and directed by Kim Seong-han. It is also mentioned with footage in the Korean film Good News (2025 film), directed by Byun Sung-hyun. References Aviation 1960s North Korea South Korea Category:Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1969 Category:1969 crimes in South Korea Category:1969 in North Korea Category:Aircraft hijackings in Asia Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in South Korea Hijacking Category:Terrorist incidents in South Korea Category:Kidnappings in South Korea Category:Terrorism committed by North Korea Category:North Korea–South Korea relations Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving the NAMC YS-11 Category:December 1969 in Asia Category:Hijackings in 1969