Chapter 397
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Flight 288 Hijacking
There were plenty of extremist groups in Korea too.
In the mid-20th century, an era of ideologies, everyone from monarchist restorationists and anarchists to far-left radicals dreaming of building socialist states lurked just beneath the surface, holding their breath.
“Restore the Daehan Empire!”
“Turn imperialist Daehan into a world for free citizens!”
“Let’s build a true communist society!”
Among them, the anarchists, far-left radicals, and monarchist restorationists had lost their momentum due to the decline of real-world socialism and Korea’s rising national power.
But the most extreme faction within the far-left—the Red Army Faction—refused to scatter easily.
The reason was simple.
The Red Army Faction had a foundation of fervent nationalism that didn’t suit socialists.
With such a solid bedrock of nationalism, they couldn’t be uprooted easily.
Still, even they knew time wasn’t on their side.
The era of heart-pounding ideologies was fading, replaced by cold, profit-driven realism. Extremists had no choice but to see their space shrink.
“Is there truly no place for us?”
The Red Army Faction wanted a chance to assert their fading organization’s presence.
“Is there a way to do that?”
That’s when terrorism caught their eye.
The white powder terror attacks that plunged Korea into fear dramatically expanded the Red Army Faction’s thinking.
“We can seize the public and the state through fear. With this method, we could dream of more than just pushing our goals—we could achieve even greater things.”
This sparked the Red Army Faction to begin preparing terrorist acts.
They first considered explosives or biological agents, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
“Biological weapons are trickier to handle and harder to obtain than I thought.”
Explosives were the same.
Korea’s government controlled explosives so strictly it was suffocating.
“Explosives? Get real. This is Daehan—they even regulate fertilizer.”
If they insisted on terrorism, they might consider attacks with homemade guns, but that wouldn’t scare the government.
“You think we’d blink if a few of those puppet politicians on the campaign trail get shot?”
Daehan wouldn’t change just because a handful of those straw-man lawmakers got taken out.
The Red Army Faction found themselves stumped before an impenetrable wall.
Then, airplanes entered the picture.
“How about trying a plane hijacking?”
Having watched other groups make demands through plane hijackings, the Red Army Faction decided to give it a shot.
“A plane hijacking, huh.”
To prepare, the Red Army Faction sent Kim Seung-il and Kim Hyun-hee to assess the security of potential target flights.
“It’ll be tough to carry explosives or guns.”
The thorough airport screenings were a secondary issue.
“How do we get the cockpit door open?”
Korean airliners kept their cockpit doors locked.
Without breaching that barrier, a hijacking was impossible.
The Red Army Faction pondered this obstacle.
Then came the suggestion.
“Why not just hijack a foreign plane coming to Korea?”
Target an aircraft from abroad with laxer security.
It was heading to Korea anyway, so it’d be packed with Koreans.
The Red Army Faction slapped their knees in approval.
“That’s a good idea.”
Accordingly, they planned to seize a flight departing from the United States.
“We’ll use plastic weapons.”
Twelve operatives armed with plastic knives that wouldn’t trigger detectors would take control of the plane.
After meticulous rehearsals on-site, the Red Army Faction hijacked America Airlines Flight 288 from Los Angeles to Pyongyang.
“Don’t move. This plane follows our orders now.”
The sudden hijacking drama spread across the world before long.
“A plane hijacking?”
The Red Army Faction flew the hijacked plane toward Pyongyang.
“The hijacked plane is heading to Pyongyang!”
The Korean government viewed this as a grave threat.
“If it goes wrong, that plane could slam into a high-rise in Pyongyang. Initiate intercept procedures.”
At Pyongyang’s orders, the air force scrambled fighters into intercept position.
Washington was appalled by Korea’s hardline stance.
“Intercept? Don’t talk nonsense!”
The U.S. flipped out over Korea’s response.
America Airlines Flight 288 carried 114 Americans, including crew and passengers.
They couldn’t let such a plane get shot down.
Faced with America’s fierce opposition, the Korean government hesitated to decide.
Even Korea’s dictator, Bae Seong-jun, couldn’t slice through the issue cleanly.
‘If we shoot it down by any chance, the U.S. will lose it.’
While Korea wavered, the hijacked plane entered Pyongyang airspace.
Fortunately, the Red Army Faction had no intention of suicide bombing like Muslim extremists.
They landed at Pyongyang Airport and requested media interviews.
The Korean government was dumbfounded by the demand.
“What? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“If you don’t meet our demands, we’ll execute hostages every 30 minutes.”
Korea stuck to its no-negotiation policy with terrorists, but America clung desperately this time too.
“We understand Korea’s position, but you can’t handle this one that way.”
“But isn’t your country one that doesn’t negotiate with terrorists either?”
“That’s true, but there’s a congressman on that plane.”
At America’s pleading, Korea pretended to negotiate and set up a table. They even brought in media as the terrorists wanted.
But behind the scenes, they prepared a crackdown.
“America’s talk sounds good, but showing we negotiate with terrorists will just invite more of them to target our people. We need a hardline response.”
Korea had already accommodated America on the intercept issue.
Korea wasn’t America’s vassal state and had no need to bend twice.
Bae Seong-jun ordered the crackdown to proceed.
The Foreign Ministry urged reconsideration.
“But if it goes wrong, relations between our countries will cool.”
“We’ll have to bear that.”
Korea had no intention of abandoning its no-negotiation principle with terrorists.
Elite 707th Special Mission Group readied for action.
The Korean military added snipers and prepared for assault.
Then, at dawn.
The Korean troops struck the plane like lightning.
Boom!
The terrorists couldn’t even react to the Korean forces’ brazen entry, blasting explosives openly before storming inside.
“Don’t move! We’ll shoot if you do!”
The terrorists, armed only with plastic knives, were killed or subdued before they could take passengers hostage.
However, the explosives used for entry were too powerful, instantly killing four American crew members tied up as hostages at the door.
Additionally, three passengers were injured by gunfire from the Korean special forces.
The congressman in question was one of the injured.
“Still, this is a clean op.”
Compared to recent hijacking crackdowns, it was solid work.
Korea celebrated the success, but America erupted in fury.
“You could’ve solved it through negotiation, but you went in guns blazing and got people killed?”
America held the Korean government accountable.
“Hey, it’s your fault to begin with for not screening properly at the airport.”
Korea shot back that America was shamelessly shifting blame.
The two nations engaged in fierce finger-pointing.
Things escalated to the point where their foreign ministries traded public barbs.
“Those insolent bastards. If the roles were reversed, they wouldn’t have done differently.”
Relations cooled, but separately, trials for the captured terrorists proceeded swiftly.
It emerged that all the hijacking perpetrators were Korean, fueling American outrage.
“The killers and the hijackers are all Koreans in the end.”
American public opinion branded Korea a terrorist state.
“What? Terrorist state?”
Koreans cursed Americans for their lack of shame.
“Just the other day, they bowed their heads thanking us for saving First World citizens, and now they flip faces. We’ve got to acknowledge how shameless those Yankee bastards are.”
The frozen bilateral ties led to looting of Korean-owned shops.
Even Geundae Mart, the massive retailer dominating America, became a target.
The sight of thousands of rioters smashing fixtures and stealing goods shocked Koreans.
“Those are citizens of a modern nation? Primitive, utterly primitive.”
Looting of Korean shops happened everywhere.
Koreans were provoked too, but Bae Seong-jun strictly forbade retaliation.
“Police take responsibility and prevent looting of American businesses and assets.”
Bae Seong-jun protected American assets not out of kindness.
‘We need to instill the impression that investing in Korea is safe no matter the situation—that’s how our value rises.’
Crisis was opportunity.
Bae Seong-jun planned to propagandize Korea’s system by contrasting America’s riots with Korea’s ‘safety.’
Washington wasn’t stupid.
America began actively protecting Korean shops and assets.
But the damage was already massive.
Korea immediately escalated it to a diplomatic issue.
“I’ve never seen a modern nation let foreign assets be looted like this.”
Using the looting as leverage, Korea went on the offensive, propagandizing about ‘America’s low-class national character.’
“Americans acted barbarically, but we behaved like gentlemen.”
The conflict eased after two months when the two nations’ foreign and state secretaries met, but the chill lingered.
The world watched Pyongyang and Washington tensely.