MISSING PLANE/JAPAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000200870003-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2008
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: September 9, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200870003-0
ABC 11ORLD NTh' S TONIGHT
9 September 1983
MISSING PLANE/ JENNINGS: Good evening. The Soviet Union has made-its most
JAPAN elaborate attempt yet to convince the world community it. was
justified in shooting down Korean Airlines Flight OQ7. We go
'
first to Moscow and ABC
s Walter Rogers.
?
ROGERS: It was a news conference without precedent here.
Soviet Chief of Staff and First Deputy Defense Minister Marshal
Nikolai Ogarkov meeting with Western reporters. Ogarkov said
six Soviet fighter planes followed that South Korean=airliner
for two and a half hours, and there was not the slightest doubt
it was on an intelligence gathering mission as it overflew a top
secret Soviet strategic missile base. Ogarkov at one point
suggested the airliner even flew on a close parallel course with
a nearby American RC-135 reconnaissance plane for 10 minutes.
The Soviet chief of staff said the Korean Airlines pilot, flying
in the dead of night through thick clouds, ignored repeated-
Soviet attempts at radio contact and refused orders to land.
Ogarkov.explained the Soviet fighter plane then fired 120
warning shots in four bursts, but he said the airline pilot then
took evasive action and behaved arrogantly. 'OGARKOV
(Translated): An interceptor aircraft was given an order to
terminate the flight using air-to-air missiles. The order was
executed.
ROGERS: Ogarkov added there were no survivors, and for the
first time he disclosed the order to shoot down the jumbo jet
was given by the local air defense commander, who the marshal
said acted properly and legally. Ogarkov added the general
staff was informed later, but he refused,to say when President
Andropov and the Politburo were informed -of the incident. The
Soviet chief of staff was only able to offer circumstantial
evidence the airliner itself was a spy plane. OGARKOV
(Translated): What proof do you need when the airplane deviated
by over 500 kilometers from the established route and is flying
over Soviet Union territory?
ROGERS: At one point, today an American embassy official said
the Soviet's explanation of this tragedy remains absurd. In hi-s
words, 'they have lied consistently and manifestly,' and he
predicted the stigma of this incident will long hang over
U.S.-Soviet realtions. Walter Rogers, ABC News, Moscow..
MCWETHY: This is John McWethy at the Pentagon. Sources in the
U.S. government say some of what General Ogarkov said today is
true, but much of it is not. Ogarkov charged that the Korean
airliner and the American reconnaissance plane rendezvoused off
the Soviet coast and flew together for 10 minutes to confuse
Soviet radar. American officials. insist that the two planes
never came closer than 75 miles, and were flying in opposite
CONI:Q i
Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-0107OR000200870003-0
 Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-01070R000200870003-0
directions, always two distinct blips on Soviet radar screens.
Officials admit that American spy planes sometimes do shadow
airliners to confuse Soviet radar, but that was not the case in
this instance. Ogark'ov claimed that every effort was made to
get the Korean airliner to land in Soviet territory. American
sources say there is no evidence the Russians tried to. reach the
Korean plane by radio, no evidence that warning shots were
filed. In fact, intelligence sources claim the SU-15
interceptor that shot down the plane could not have fired
warning shots because it had no guns, only missiles. Ogarkov
expressed frustration at being unable to make the Korean-.-
airliner land, and said it was only after two hours of tracking -
the aircraft that it was shot down as a spy plane. American
sources say the Soviets probably could have shot it down much
sooner, either from the air or the ground, but they were
apparently waiting for two things. One, a positive visual
identification, which sources say they did get; and two,
ermission to destroy the plane from higher in the chain of-
p
command, who the Russians say gave the order. That permission,
sources say, came just as the Korean plane was about to pass out
of Soviet airspace. Intelligence analysts say in another 60
seconds it would have done so. Government sources tell ABC news
that since the incident last week, the U.S. has flown at least
one additional RC-135 spy plane mission in that area. What the
U.S. discovered is that the Soviets have now changed all of
their secret codes and communications procedures, presumably
because of all that the U.S. government has revealed in public
about how closely and accurately. it can monitor Soviet
activities. John.?ScWethy, ABC News, the Pentagon.
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Approved For Release 2008/06/27: CIA-RDP88-01070R000200870003-0