The day North Korea shot down an American military aircraft, killing 31

U.S. Nilgun Salim
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Following US’ demonstration of force, North Korea threatened to send its enemy “into the grave”

However, this disturbing affirmation relies on a precedent: in 1969, the North Korean army shot down an American surveillance plan, with 31 passengers on board.

“As the United States has declared war on our country, we have every right to take countermeasures, including the right to shoot down every single American bomber even the ones which are not in our airspace”, has declared on September 23 the North Korean Secretary of State Ri Yong-ho in front of the UN General Assembly.

In 1969, when Donald Trump was 22-years-old and Kim Jong-un was not even born, during the Cold War, the United States organized several missions to collect intel about the communication means between the Eastern bloc countries.

The program was dubbed as the “Beggar Shadow”

It was Tuesday, April 15, 7:00 in the morning, when an American radar surveillance aircraft, the Lockheed EC-121M Warning Star, took off from the Atsugi airbase in Japan.

The mission was to travel along the northeast coast of North Korea, remaining in the international airspace above the Japanese Sea.

The mission didn’t pose any risk for the US Army security agency, who had already carried out 200 similar missions without incidents, only in 1969.

And yet, at 12:30, two MiG-21 military jets took off from North Korea, following the Lockheed Warning Star.

At 13:47, the two planes destroyed the US aircraft, which carried 31 crew members.

Among them were eight officers and 23 volunteers, including Korean and Russian translators.