North Korean jet crashes during apparent defection attempt
source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korean-plane-20100819,0,6443254.story
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"Reporting from Beijing —
A North Korean military aircraft crashed into a cornfield in northeastern China about 100 miles from the border, the Chinese government said Wednesday. Analysts believed the flight was a failed defection attempt.
The pilot was killed in the crash Tuesday, according to China's official New China News Agency, which also reported that the government "is in communication on the matter with the North Korean side."
Chinese authorities released little information about the crash in Fushun prefecture, Liaoning province. But photographs, reportedly taken by villagers and widely distributed on Chinese blog sites, show the wreckage with a red star in a blue circle, the insignia of the North Korean air force. North Korea's 1st Air Division, 24th Regiment, is headquartered in Uiju, near the border city of Sinuiju, and pilots frequently train near the Yalu River, which forms the border with China.
The aircraft was identified as a Russian-made MiG fighter, most likely a MiG-21, although early reports had described it as a helicopter.
South Korean analysts said they believed the pilot was attempting to escape his impoverished homeland, possibly heading toward Russia, which is more hospitable to defectors than China. Along the way, he might have run out of fuel and attempted an emergency landing in the fields.
"This couldn't be a training accident; the border is clearly marked," said Kim Chul-woo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "An attempted defection is the only plausible explanation."
Park Syung Je, a respected military analyst in Seoul, said South Korean intelligence was still trying to determine what happened."
Read the full article (link below):
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korean-plane-20100819,...
A North Korean military aircraft crashed into a cornfield in northeastern China about 100 miles from the border, the Chinese government said Wednesday. Analysts believed the flight was a failed defection attempt.
The pilot was killed in the crash Tuesday, according to China's official New China News Agency, which also reported that the government "is in communication on the matter with the North Korean side."
Chinese authorities released little information about the crash in Fushun prefecture, Liaoning province. But photographs, reportedly taken by villagers and widely distributed on Chinese blog sites, show the wreckage with a red star in a blue circle, the insignia of the North Korean air force. North Korea's 1st Air Division, 24th Regiment, is headquartered in Uiju, near the border city of Sinuiju, and pilots frequently train near the Yalu River, which forms the border with China.
The aircraft was identified as a Russian-made MiG fighter, most likely a MiG-21, although early reports had described it as a helicopter.
South Korean analysts said they believed the pilot was attempting to escape his impoverished homeland, possibly heading toward Russia, which is more hospitable to defectors than China. Along the way, he might have run out of fuel and attempted an emergency landing in the fields.
"This couldn't be a training accident; the border is clearly marked," said Kim Chul-woo of the Seoul-based Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. "An attempted defection is the only plausible explanation."
Park Syung Je, a respected military analyst in Seoul, said South Korean intelligence was still trying to determine what happened."
Read the full article (link below):
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korean-plane-20100819,...
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