TERRORISM REVIEW

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05787207
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 32
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 12, 2019
• Case Number: F-2019-00499
• Publication Date: February 11, 1988

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Directorate of
Intelligence
MASTER HL E COPY
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OR MARX ON
Terrorism Review (u)
11 February 1988
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DI TR 88-003
II February 1988
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Warning Notice
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Abbreviations
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Not releasable to contractors or contractor/consultants
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All material on this page
is Unclassified.
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Terrorism Review (u)
11 February 1988
1 Focus: North Korea: Responsibility for the Korean Airliner Bombing (u)
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This review is published biweekly by the Directorate of Intelligence. Other
elements of the CIA as well as other agencies of the US Intelligence Community
are encouraged to submit articles for publication. Comments and queries are
welcome and may be directed to the Executive Editor
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Terrorism Review (u)
11 February 1988
Focus North Korea: Responsibility for the Korean Airliner Bombing (u)
The North Korean Investigations Department (the overseas intelligence organ of
the Korean Workers Party was probably behind the destruction of Korean Airlines
(KAL) Flight 858 on 29 November 1987. Elements of the case carry trademarks of
previous North Korean operations, and no evidence has surfaced so far to suggest
that any other terrorist group participated in this attack (b)(1)
Kim Hyon-hui (hereafter referred to by her travel alias, Mayumi (b)(31
Hachiya) is North Korean and has ties to the Investigations Department. (b)(3)
Links to North Korean Intelligence
The perpetrators of the bombing are clearly linked to North Korean intelligence.
Native-speaking US-Korean language experts who have spoken to Mayumi
directly or have heard her voice agree unanimously that she is ethnically North
Korean. In her confession to South Korean authorities and in interviews with US
officials, Mayumi admitted she has been an Investigations Department agent since
1980. She said she and her accomplice Kim Sung-il (hereafter referred to by his
travel alias, Shinichi Hachiya) began to train together as a "father-daughter"
team in 1984
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Documents in the possession of Shinichi and Mayumi when they were apprehend-
ed in Bahrain also tie them to North Korea. These include a notebook containing
coded telephone numbers for emergency contacts with North Korean facilities in
Europe. US officials have examined photographs of the notebook pages taken
before the notebook was given to South Korean authorities. Among the numbers
disguised in the notebook, two belong to the North Korean Embassies in Vienna
and Belgrade, respectively, according to diplomatic lists and phone books for those
cities.
Operational Itinerary
We have been able to verify some segments of the circuitous journey that Mayumi
says she and her partner took en route to their mission. The following events are
based on Mayumi's remarks:
� According to Mayumi, the mission began on 12 November, when she and
Shinichi traveled from P'yongyang to Moscow on the inaugural flight of a new
North Korean airline route. A press announcement confirmed that the North
Korean airline began flying a P'yongyang�to�East Berlin route via Moscow on
12 November.
� The pair rested for a few hours in a facility of the North Korean Embassy in
Moscow and then flew on to Budapest. arriving early on 13 November
Mayumi and Shinichi traveled to Belgrade on 23 November. Two North Korean
agent handlers delivered the bomb to her and to Shinichi in their room at the
Metropol Hotel in Belgrade at approximately 1900 hours on 27 November.
told the US Embassy that Metropol Hotel staff recalled
seeing the Hachiyas meet two Oriental men in the lobby.
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� Mayumi and Shinichi smuggled the bomb, disguised as a small clock radio and a
bottle of wine, aboard an Air Iraq flight to Baghdad on 28 November. They
armed the device in the boarding area of the Baghdad airport and carried it
aboard KAL Flight 858. They placed the bomb in the overhead compartment
above their seats. Airport security personnel in Baghdad attempted to take the
batteries from the radio when the pair boarded but relented when Shinichi
protested. The Hachiyas did not have a radio when they were apprehended in
Bahrain. A steward who left the flight in Abu Dhabi at about 0300 on 29
November confirmed that the Hachiyas�who also deplaned in Abu Dhabi�
had sat in the location where Mayumi said they left the bomb.
In addition to the KAL Flight 858 mission, Mayumi stated she has made other
trips on behalf of the North Korean Investigations Department. Mayumi said she
traveled to Hong Kong and Macao to meet with other North Korean agents in
September 1984. Airport and hotel data from Macao verify this claim.
Motivation and Modus Operandi
North Korea's frustration over its inability to cohost the 1988 Summer Olympic
Games and its desire to portray Seoul as an unsafe venue for the Games probably
provided the motive for the bombing of the KAL flight. We believe the bombing
had been planned as the first incident of a campaign intended to raise doubts about
South Korea's ability to assure the safety of participants and attendees at the
Games.
The bombing of KAL Flight 858 conforms to previous North Korean actions in its
disregard for innocent life and willingness to flout the norms of international
behavior. Among such acts undertaken by North Korea during the last two
decades are:
� An abortive commando attack on South Korea's presidential mansion in 1968.
� An unsuccessful assassination attempt in 1974 on the then President of South
Korea, Pak Chong-hui, that resulted in the death of Pak's wife.
� The kidnapings of Japanese and Chinese women from Japan and Macao in the
summer of 1978.
� An unsuccessful assassination attempt against South Korean President Chon
Tu-hwan in Rangoon, Burma, in October 1983 that killed 18 South Korean and
Burmese citizens and wounded scores of others
The attempt by Mayumi and Shinichi to kill themselves while being questioned in
Bahrain fits the known modus operandi of North Korean intelligence operatives. (b)(1)
cyanide capsules are routinely issued to agents to use (b)(3)
to avoid interrogation in case of capture. Such capsules were found in the
possession of North Korean commandos arrested in Rangoon after the bombing
there in 1983. Only quick action and overwhelming force on the part of Bahraini
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
(b)(3)
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security personnel prevented Mayumi's death. Chemical analysis of the cyanide
capsule seized from Mayumi and traces of cyanide found in the esophagus and
lungs of Shinichi's corpse show a chemical composition identical to capsules found
on North Korean agents captured or killed in earlier incidents, including:
� An agent apprehended in Taegu, South Korea, in April 1983.
� An agent apprehended infiltrating South Korea in February 1985.
Outlook
If the bombing of KAL Flight 858 is the opening round in a campaign against the
Seoul Olympics, P'yongyang will probably conduct other attacks against South
Korean interests. The public exposure and condemnation of the North�as well as
South Korean security precautions�may serve as deterrents, however.
The above article is
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