Korean Air Flight 858

Korean Air Flight 858

HL7406, the aircraft involved, while wearing an older livery
Bombing
Date	29 November 1987 (1987-11-29)
Summary	Bombing, state terrorism
Site	Andaman Sea 14°33′N 97°23′E / 14.55°N 97.38°E / 14.55; 97.38
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707-3B5C
Operator	Korean Air
IATA flight No.	KE858
ICAO flight No.	KAL858
Call sign	KOREAN AIR 858
Registration	HL7406
Flight origin	Saddam International Airport (Now Baghdad International Airport), Baghdad, Iraq
1st stopover	Abu Dhabi International Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2nd stopover	Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand
Destination	Gimpo International Airport, Seoul, South Korea
Occupants	115
Passengers	104
Crew	11
Fatalities	115
Survivors	0

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 two North Korean agents.

The agents, acting upon orders from the North Korean government, planted the device 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 aboard the airliner was killed, a total of 104 passengers and 11 crew members (almost all were South Koreans). 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 realized they were about to be taken into custody. The man died, but the woman, 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, except between 2008 and 2017, has included North Korea on its State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

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 four Inter-Korean summits. Kim Hyon-hui 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 by her superiors that Kim Jong Il personally gave the order for the attack. She was branded a traitor by North Korea and became a critic of North Korea after seeing South Korea. Kim now resides in exile, and under constant tight security, fearing that the North Korean government wants to kill her.^[1] "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."^[2]