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Step into one of the most shocking chapters of history as we unravel the chilling story of Korean Air Flight 858. From secret agents to high-stakes espionage, this gripping tale has twists you won’t believe! Dive in for suspense, real-life drama, and secrets revealed. Subscribe for more jaw-dropping stories, and let us know in the comments what part blew your mind! #history #truecrime #documentary #mystery #korea
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@noelpolotv
0:04 - The Chilling Confession Revealed
1:10 - The Disappearance of Flight 858
2:41 - Investigation and Search for Evidence
4:59 - The Suspects and their Capture
7:20 - North Korea’s Motive and Planning
10:57 - The Bombing Mission Executed
13:58 - Aftermath and Confession
16:50 - Kim Hyun Hui’s Life After the Attack
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@noelpolotv
0:04 - The Chilling Confession Revealed
1:10 - The Disappearance of Flight 858
2:41 - Investigation and Search for Evidence
4:59 - The Suspects and their Capture
7:20 - North Korea’s Motive and Planning
10:57 - The Bombing Mission Executed
13:58 - Aftermath and Confession
16:50 - Kim Hyun Hui’s Life After the Attack
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NewsTranscript
00:04the year is 1988 inside a cramped conference room in Seoul it looks more
00:10like an interrogation room than a place for a press conference January 15th at
00:16noon just the beginning of the year it's freezing outside but inside the room
00:20the tension feels even heavier the whole place is packed with journalists all
00:26cameras are focused on a table and everyone knows this won't be an
00:30ordinary press conference a few moments later a young girl slowly enters while
00:35being closely guarded by security her face is pale her gaze is downcast and she
00:41quietly sits at the table in the middle of the room you can clearly see the
00:45intense anxiety and burden she carries in her expression and movements she remained
00:50silent for a while then she began to speak and that was when one of the most
00:55chilling confessions in South Korean history began this is the confession
01:00of the woman behind the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 a crime recorded as one
01:06of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the history of South Korea in November
01:111987 Korean Air Flight 858 flew from Saddam International Airport in Baghdad to
01:18Seoul the plane crossed the Indian Ocean smoothly everything was normal the flight
01:24was quiet and there were no signs of trouble but after about nine hours since
01:28it took off the plane suddenly lost communication and completely disappeared
01:34later it was discovered that around 201 p.m. Korean time the flight sent its last
01:41message according to the report everything was normal and it was on the
01:44correct route from Bangkok to Seoul but just a few minutes later it disappeared
01:49from the radar the air traffic controllers immediately panicked the whole of
01:54South Korea was placed under emergency alert no one knew what really happened to
01:59the plane in the first hours after the incident many hope that maybe the plane
02:04had just been hijacked they would rather believe that was what happened then think
02:09it crashed because of a serious malfunction but there was something that
02:13didn't add up there was no distress signal no emergency call no warning at all
02:18from the pilot just a few hours later the shocking truth came out authorities
02:25discovered that the plane exploded while in midair this was not an accident it was a
02:31planned attack explosives were secretly smuggled onto the plane all 115 people on
02:37board including the crew were instantly killed by the force of the explosion at
02:42first there was no solid evidence proving that this was a planned terrorist attack
02:47however the authorities quickly announced that possibility a day after the
02:51tragedy the vice chairman of Korean air who was in Bangkok at the time to
02:55oversee the situation said that he believed a terrorist bombing was the cause of
03:01the plane's disappearance he explained that the aircraft suddenly disappeared
03:05without any call or emergency signal from the pilot so there was a strong
03:10possibility that a sudden explosion occurred inside the plane even the defense
03:15minister of South Korea pointed to North Korea as the main suspect according to
03:21him this is a crime that almost no country other than North Korea could carry out
03:25because of this a massive search immediately began in the air and at sea
03:30focusing on the last known location believed to have been passed by the
03:34missing plane the massive search was focused on the sea in the
03:38southeastern part of Myanmar which was then still known as Burma between
03:43Thailand and Myanmar helicopters were deployed to search the forests in the
03:49sea in hopes of finding any trace of the missing plane but after 10 days without any
03:55results the South Korean government officially called off the search
03:59operation although the rescue teams never found the main wreckage or even the
04:04black box a lifeboat was found it was reported in the media as one of the main
04:09pieces of evidence in the explosion according to authorities it is clear that
04:13there was damage that could have been caused by a very powerful explosion at the
04:18same time fishermen and residents in Thailand began to find pieces of metal
04:23parts of the plane and personal belongings floating in the sea or caught in
04:27their nets unfortunately before they realized how important these were as
04:31evidence many had already been sold as scrap metal it took another two years
04:36before the main wreckage of the plane was finally found this was achieved by
04:40interviewing local Thai fishermen from where they had found various pieces of
04:45debris the authorities were able to pinpoint the exact location where the
04:50plane had crashed and they were finally able to recover its remains from the
04:53bottom of the sea on the very same day that Korean air flight 858 disappeared it
05:00was supposed to make a stop at Abu Dhabi International Airport in Abu Dhabi
05:04there two passengers got off the plane a Japanese man and a young woman both
05:10claiming to be ordinary tourists but soon after the authorities noticed that their
05:15passports were fake the man used the name Shinichi Hachia claiming to be 70 years
05:22old while the woman introduced herself as Mayumi Hachia 25 years old after they were
05:28arrested they attempted to take their own lives using cyanide capsules secretly
05:34hidden inside a cigarette case the man died instantly after swallowing the poison but
05:39the young girl was saved because the doctors acted quickly she immediately
05:44underwent gastric lavage or cleaning out the contents of her stomach to remove the
05:48poison even though she survived she pretended to be unconscious for a long time at
05:55first the authorities thought they were just criminals who had tried to flee in
06:00connection with another case the process even began to send them back to Japan for investigation
06:05there but everything changed when the cyanide capsules were discovered the South Korean
06:10government knows that using cyanide to commit suicide when caught is one of the
06:14well-known methods of North Korean agents so that they cannot give information to their enemies
06:21because of this the investigation was immediately intensified eventually investigators discovered
06:28that their passports were very expertly forged the woman's passport actually belonged to a Japanese
06:34citizen named Takeshi meanwhile the one used by the man was based on the identity of a real
06:40Japanese citizen named Shinichi Hachia it didn't take long the authorities
06:45transferred the female suspect Kim Hyun-hui to Seoul the case was placed under investigation by the
06:52agency for national security planning that was South Korea's intelligence agency at the time
06:58they quickly discovered the true identities of the two they were not actually Japanese tourists
07:03they were secret agents from North Korea who pretended to be a Japanese father and daughter
07:08so as not to arouse suspicion their real names were Kim Seung-il and Kim Hyun-hui
07:14the names Shinichi and Mayumi were just aliases they used for their mission
07:20later it was also revealed that Kim Hyun-hui was part of the elite foreign intelligence and
07:26investigation division of the workers party of Korea but one big question still troubled everyone
07:33why would North Korea send secret agents to blow up a South Korean passenger plane according to
07:39subsequent investigations this plan began under the supervision of Kim Jong-il the former leader
07:45of North Korea was said to be the one who gave direction to this operation in 1987 the two Koreas
07:52were at a crucial and tense moment South Korea was continuously preparing to host the 1988 Summer
07:58Olympics in Seoul because of this it further strengthened its reputation and influence around the world
08:06meanwhile the situation in North Korea was the opposite while China and the Soviet Union were
08:11beginning to implement reforms and more open policies Pyongyang increasingly felt that it was being left
08:18behind and isolated from the international community North Korea was extremely angered by the upcoming
08:25Seoul Olympics especially when it learned that both countries from the communist bloc and those from the free
08:31world would participate for many countries the Olympics is a symbol of unity and peace but for North Korea it
08:38was
08:38a major victory for South Korea in front of the whole world because of this they monitored every event
08:45happening in their neighboring country even more closely North Korea even tried to request South Korea and
08:52the International Olympic Committee to let them co-host some Olympic events but their request was immediately
08:59denied at the same time South Korea was experiencing political problems there were widespread protests known as
09:07the June democratic struggle as well as a heated presidential election North Korea saw this as an opportunity to
09:16take advantage of the chaos that's when they started planning an operation aimed at disrupting South Korean society and
09:24destroying its credibility before the Olympics even began their plan was simple but very dangerous
09:32if there were a series of major terrorist attacks in the country hosting the Olympics which is supposed to be
09:39a
09:39symbol of peace and unity the whole world might lose trust in South Korea's ability to ensure the safety of
09:46athletes and visitors if that happened it's possible that the Seoul Olympics could be cancelled or moved to another country
09:53in other words they wanted to use the fear of terrorism to change the world's opinion
09:58and prevent the Olympics from being held in Seoul according to subsequent investigations this strategy was
10:05carried out under the leadership of Kim Jong-il he was the one overseeing North Korea's policies
10:11against South Korea at that time this is also not the first time North Korea has been linked to this
10:17kind of incident
10:18in 1986 a week before the 1986 Asian Games began there was an explosion at Gimpo International Airport
10:27up to now no official perpetrator has been identified but it is widely believed that North Korea was involved
10:34in the bombing as the opening of the 1988 Seoul Olympics approached Kim Jong-il devised a more dangerous plan
10:41His goal was to blow up a South Korean passenger plane while in the air to spread fear, chaos, and
10:48distrust throughout the country
10:50To ensure the success of the operation they carefully selected two highly skilled agents for the mission
10:57The ones chosen were Kim Se-yong-il and Kim Hyun-hui
11:00Kim Se-yong-il was already 70 years old at that time and had been conducting secret operations against South
11:07Korea
11:07since the 1950s Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-hui was a 25 year old woman who graduated in Japanese language
11:15from Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies Because of her proficiency in the Japanese language
11:20and culture she was part of an elite group of specialists trained for secret missions abroad
11:26Although she had no actual operational experience at that time, she underwent extremely rigorous training
11:33She was taught to live like a true Japanese citizen from the way she spoke, acted, ate, and interacted with
11:40others
11:41Even the smallest gestures or habits that could reveal her true identity were corrected repeatedly
11:47until it was almost impossible to notice that she was a North Korean agent
11:52On October 7, 1987, Kim Se-yong-il and Kim Hyun-hui received a written order from Kim Jong-il
12:01to carry out their mission
12:02After almost a month of preparation, they left Pyongyang and went to Vienna
12:08Every time they crossed a border, they used fake passports and pretended to be Japanese citizens to avoid suspicion
12:15Upon arriving in Austria, they stayed at a hotel and there they carried out the final stage of preparations for
12:21their mission
12:21Their target was Korean Air Flight 858
12:24A passenger plane that would fly from Iraq to Seoul with scheduled stops in Abu Dhabi and Bangkok
12:32After buying tickets to Iraq, they also arranged their escape plan to ensure they could get away immediately after completing
12:40the mission
12:42While in Austria, a man believed to be a fellow North Korean agent
12:47It was the one who handed them a portable Panasonic radio, but it was no ordinary radio
12:52Inside it was hidden a small amount of plastic explosive
12:56A type of bomb material that is soft, easy to shape, and can be attached to almost anything
13:02It was white and resembled dough, so it was easy to hide without being immediately noticed
13:07Another reason why this was chosen to be used is because, at that time, it was almost undetectable by x
13:14-ray scanners and metal detectors for explosives
13:18Before boarding the plane, they carefully opened the radio and placed the explosive inside
13:24Then they put all the parts back so the radio would still work and look like an ordinary item in
13:30case it was inspected
13:32Next, they installed the timer, which was set to explode after approximately 9 hours
13:39After this, they placed the radio inside a shopping bag and boarded Korean Air Flight 858
13:44When the plane reached its first stop in Abu Dhabi, they quietly left the bag with a hidden bomb in
13:50the overhead compartment
13:52Then they got off the plane without being noticed by the other passengers or the crew
13:57As the plane continued its journey to Bangkok, the timer kept counting down the remaining time before the explosion
14:05At the designated time, around 2.05 in the afternoon on November 29, 1987
14:12The bomb exploded with tremendous force while the plane was in the air over the Indian Ocean
14:18In an instant, the plane was torn to pieces
14:21All 115 passengers and crew were killed instantly
14:26At first, no one knew the real cause of the explosion
14:30The truth only began to come out the next day when investigators received important new information
14:36A man and a woman who pretended to be Japanese tourists tried to leave the country using fake passports
14:44They planned to fly to Rome from the airport in Bahrain
14:47While immigration was checking the woman's passport, which was under the name Mayumi Hachia
14:54They noticed that the passport number was fake
14:57Because of this, they were immediately detained and subjected to a thorough investigation
15:02At that time, the plane they were supposed to take to Rome had already left
15:07They knew that their true identities had been exposed
15:10They also knew that if they were caught and forced to confess, they would not be the only ones punished
15:17Under North Korea's system, their family members could also be sent to secret camps for political prisoners
15:24As well as the officials who trained them
15:26This is part of what is called collective responsibility
15:30Where the entire family is punished
15:32When a member fails or brings shame to the state
15:36Because of this, while they were being investigated, Kim Seong-Il and Kim Hyun-Hway
15:42Attempted to take their own lives using cyanide capsules that they had long hidden inside a cigarette case
15:49Kim Seong-Il died immediately after swallowing the poison
15:52Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-Hway was saved because she was brought to the hospital before the effects of the cyanide could
15:58fully spread
15:59On December 14, 1987, she was transferred to South Korea to continue the investigation there
16:05When she arrived in Seoul, the whole world was shocked to learn that one of the people behind the attack
16:10Was a young woman only 20 years old
16:13After a series of interrogations at the headquarters of South Korea's intelligence agency
16:18She finally confessed
16:21On January 15, 1988, Kim Hyun-Hway admitted that she was one of those who carried out the bombing of
16:29Korean Air Flight 858
16:31And said that she carried out the operation under the direct orders of Kim Jong-Il
16:37At that point, authorities officially confirmed that the disappearance of Korean Air Flight 858
16:44Was a planned terrorist attack carried out by North Korean agents
16:49After a long trial, Kim Hyun-Hway was sentenced to death on March 27, 1991
16:55But just 16 days later, on April 12, 1991
16:59The public was shocked when she was granted a special presidential pardon
17:04Ro Tai-Woo explained that he wanted to pardon Kim Hyun-Hway
17:08Because he considered her an important witness to history
17:11A person who could shed light on North Korea's operations
17:15However, this decision became controversial
17:19Many could not accept that a person who admitted involvement in the deaths of 115 innocent people
17:26Would be released instead of being given the death penalty
17:30After she was pardoned, Kim Hyun-Hway stayed in South Korea
17:34Where she continues to live to this day
17:37In 1993, she published her memoir
17:40Where she told the story of her life as a North Korean agent
17:43And recounted the events that led to the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 a few years later
17:51In 1998, she married one of the intelligence officers
17:55Who was among those who investigated and questioned her after she was captured
17:59In the following years, she also appeared in the media several times
18:03And gave interviews about her past
18:05She also went through various rehabilitation and re-education programs as part of her new life
18:12In South Korea, she is currently under the protection and strict surveillance of South Korean intelligence
18:18Due to the sensitive nature of her past and possible threats to her security
18:23In various interviews, she has repeatedly said that she deeply regrets the role she played in the tragedy
18:29According to her, she gave all the earnings from her book to the families of the victims
18:34As a small way of asking for forgiveness
18:37She also said that she has devoted the rest of her life to repentance
18:41Asking for forgiveness
18:44And remembering the innocent lives lost because of that tragedy
18:51And be with you
18:53Amen
18:53For now
18:54For
18:57now The
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