FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - "KLM uses North Korean airspace"

Jan 27, 2015 | 5:43 am

#7

NickB

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Quote:

Originally Posted by irishguy28

North Korea has never, to my knowledge (and Wikipedia would seem to back this up) shot down a commercial/passenger plane, and never threatened to do so.

I'm a little baffled by this "issue". I know that North Korea has conducted a larger than normal series of missile tests in the last year, but I don't believe that civil, or even military, aviation has ever been a target, or endangered, by these tests.

I agree. I do not think that there is a realistic risk of a deliberate shooting of a civil airliner.
As to an accident, I would question the parallel with MH17. In the MH17 situation, we were talking about unprofessional hot-headed thugs/insurgents (albeit in all likelihood assisted by trained military personnel from next door).
Whatever one thinks of North Korea, I do not think that the North Korean army could be regarded as non-professional hot-heads. Nor are we at the moment in North Korea in a zone of active conflict comparable to Eastern Ukraine. I would not be overly worried about overflying North Korea.

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