(cache) YONHAP NEWS

Ex-N. Korean terrorist reaffirms her responsibility for 1987 bombing of Korean Air

   By Lee Chi-dong
BUSAN, March 11 (Yonhap) -- A former North Korean female terrorist, convicted of planting a bomb in a Korean Air jet in 1987, on Wednesday dismissed lingering rumors that the incident might have been planned by the then-South Korean military ruler for political gain.

   The mid-air explosion of the plane killed all 115 passengers and crew members on board. Kim Hyun-hui confessed to having committed the crime at the instruction of the communist regime, while her fellow terrorist killed himself before being arrested.

   But some bereaved families raised doubts that North Korea was behind the incident, saying the administration of former President Chun Doo-hwan might have been involved. Chun pursued political advantage in the presidential election of that year.

   South Korea's previous government of President Roh Moo-hyun reinvestigated the case but failed to find clear proof to substantiate the allegations. Investigators only said that North Korea appears to have choreographed the bombing but the Chun administration tried to use the incident politically.

   "It is lamentable that (some of the bereaved families) still don't realize who caused the 20-year-old incident," Kim told a press conference here after meeting with the son and the elder brother of Yaeko Taguchi, who was kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s to train its spies. Kim said she had lived with Taguchi for more than a year in the early 1980s to learn Japanese language and culture.

   "The Korean Air incident was a terrorist act by North Korea. I would like to say that I am not a fake figure," she said.

   Kim's meeting with Taguchi's family and the ensuing press meeting marked her first public appearance since 1991, when she provided details about the attack on the airliner in a nationally-televised press conference, although she has since been engaged in some closed-door activities.

   The pardoned Kim had lived a reclusive life in a South Korean city after marrying her South Korean bodyguard in 1997, amid reports that she was at odds with the liberal government of President Roh which questioned Kim's involvement in the airline bombing.

   When asked about her view on the former administration, Kim refused to go into details.

   "I am just waiting for the results of the ongoing investigation by the current government into what the former government did," she said without elaborating.

   Kim said the Japanese government needs to provide face-saving measures for North Korea and win the "hearts of North Koreans" to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang.

   Tokyo says at least 17 Japanese citizens were abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2002, the North acknowledged abducting only 13 Japanese citizens and allowed five of them to return home, saying the others had died, a claim disputed by Tokyo.

   "If efforts for their repatriation continue, I think a miracle may happen," she said.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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