North Korean plane crashes in China

[Thomas]

North Korean plane crashes in China
18 August 2010 Last updated at 05:25 ET
BBC News - North Korean plane crashes in China
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korean-plane-20100819,0,6443254.story

A North Korean aircraft, which may be a fighter jet, has crashed in China near the country's shared border, say Chinese and South Korean reports.

It is believed the pilot, who was killed, may have been trying to defect to Russia, according to unnamed intelligence sources cited by Yonhap.

The crash happened on Tuesday afternoon in Fushun county, Liaoning province.

Defections are common but an attempt by plane is highly unusual and would be a source of embarrassment for Pyongyang.

China has a repatriation agreement with North Korea, which could explain why the pilot may have been trying to reach Russia, the report added.

North Korea has a military airbase in Sinuiju, near the border with China.

China's state media confirmed an unidentified small plane had crashed and that it may belong to North Korea.

An investigation into the cause of the crash was under way, Xinhua reported.
Soviet-era jet

Photographs of the wreckage reportedly taken by a local resident and posted on the internet showed North Korea's insignia on the plane's fuselage.

Military experts said the plane appeared to be a Soviet-era fighter jet, which were used during the 1950-53 Korean War.

A report in Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper said that a second pilot had bailed out but gave no information on his whereabouts. It conflicts with the South Korean report of only one pilot on board.

Technically, North and South Korea remain at war although a ceasefire agreement ended fighting in 1953.

Their border is the most heavily militarised zone in the world.

 

[Patriot]

RIP ......

 

[adeee]

very strange.

 

[somebozo]

RIP..pity the souls who want to flee that evil..about time NK must be bought to accountablity.

 

[CardSharp]

The plane crash near Shangyang

Smarter and wiser heads than I have figured out that the plane is a MiG-21PF/PFM

The pilot was initially reported as wounded but OK, now they are saying he's dead.

 

[Thomas]

The plane crash near Shangyang

Smarter and wiser heads than I have figured out that the plane is a MiG-21PF/PFM

The pilot was initially reported as wounded but OK, now they are saying he's dead.

It is probably just as well since China has a repatriation agreement with North Korea.

 

[CardSharp]

It is probably just as well since China has a repatriation agreement with North Korea.

Yep you're right, they would have handed his butt right back. They say he was headed for Russia and got lost.

SHENYANG, China/SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean airplane that appeared to be a Soviet-era jet fighter crashed in a Chinese border area, killing the pilot aboard who may have been attempting to defect to Russia, intelligence sources in Shenyang said Wednesday.

The crash took place in Fushun Prefecture in the province of Liaoning Tuesday afternoon, the sources said, adding the pilot was the only person aboard the plane when it crashed.
"The pilot died on the spot," one source said, adding the Chinese authorities were able to identify the nationality of the airplane only after the crash.

Chinese authorities had confirmed that a small aircraft flew into their territory but did not identify its origin. Photos of the wreckage purportedly taken by a Chinese resident and uploaded on the Internet showed the North Korean flag on the tail of the plane.

Another source said that the plane is believed to have lost its direction while flying to Russia after escaping North Korea. China has a repatriation pact with North Korea, which may have led the pilot to choose Russia as his destination.

Some experts said the plane appeared to be a MiG-15, a model widely deployed during the 1950-53 Korean War but now used mostly for training. South Korea's military said it was more likely a MiG-21, citing a radar detection of the North Korean aircraft leaving an air base near the border with China.

"Radar images show the North Korean aircraft took off from the air base in Sinuiju," an official in Seoul said, based on images captured by the Air Force's Monitor Control and Reporting Center (MCRC) that monitors activities of North Korean aircraft.

"According to the images, it appears to be a MiG-21," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Fushun is about 200 kilometers away from the Sinuiju air base. The number of North Korean soldiers defecting from their impoverished homeland has increased in recent months as food shortages deepen, observers say.

YONHAP NEWS

 

[Patriot]

He should have just flown to South Korea if he was trying to defect.

 

[CardSharp]

He should have just flown to South Korea if he was trying to defect.

He would have been tiny pieces meat raining over Seoul if he flew to South Korea.

 

[Patriot]

Well I am sure there are procedures for interception.You just don't shoot the enemy right away.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

He would have been tiny pieces meat raining over Seoul if he flew to South Korea.

Exactly.

The border between North and South Korea, is the most militarised border on Earth.

I wonder what the South Korean policy on Northern refugees is though?

 

[CardSharp]

Well I am sure there are procedures for interception.You just don't shoot the enemy right away.

The DMZ is Injun country, you shoot first ask questions later when a MiG shaped object flies towards your capital.

 

[no_name]

Not to mention that the base the plane took off from is near chinese border in the north so there is really no point trying to flew south.

 

[Hafizzz]

This N. Korean pilot probably got brainwashed by S. Korean leaflets and wanted to defect to S. Korea via Russia.

South Korean activists fly anti-North Korea leaflets
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