
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 25, 1994                   TAG: 9412270113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: HOLIDAY  
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA                                LENGTH: Medium

U.S. HOPES LETTER GETS PILOT FREED

The United States has sent a letter to North Korea expressing regret for violating its airspace eight days ago when a U.S. Army helicopter mistakenly crossed into the communist nation's territory and was shot down, U.S. officials in South Korea and in Washington said Saturday.

Pentagon officials were optimistic that the letter would ease the way for North Korea to release the helicopter's surviving pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall. North Korea had demanded an apology, and U.S. officials said the letter would help the nation save face and make it politically easier to release the soldier.

``We're sitting on our hands. We're hopeful he'll be back during daylight time [Sunday],'' a Pentagon official said Saturday. Hall, however, remained in the hands of the North Korean People's Army as Christmas morning arrived in Asia.

The letter uses the word ``regret,'' the official said. It ``attributed the flight [over North Korea] to navigation error.''

``It does convey assurances the U.N. command is taking steps to prevent a recurrence,'' the official said.

U.S. troops in South Korea are under the command of the United Nations, as they have been since the start of the Korean War more than 40 years ago.

The letter was written by Gen. Gary E. Luck, supreme commander of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea, and was reviewed by Defense Secretary William Perry and other senior Clinton administration officials, a senior Pentagon source said.

North Korea has said that Hall, 28, is in good condition, but there has been no outside contact with him. He and his co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, were shot down in the rain when their unarmed OH-58 helicopter strayed over North Korea on Dec. 17.

Hilemon died in the crash. After several days of negotiations by Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., who happened to be visiting Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, Hilemon's body was turned over to U.S. soldiers Thursday.

While Clinton expressed hope that Hall would be returned quickly, and other aides said they had what one said was ``a pretty good idea'' of what North Korea wanted, one senior Pentagon official indicated that the U.S. government was uncertain whether the North Korean military and other government officials there were acting together.

``What we don't know is if everybody in North Korea wants the same thing, and if a letter for one constituency serves another constituency,'' said the Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The incident marked the first time in 17 years that a U.S. aircraft has been shot down over North Korea. Anxious U.S. officials have tried to make contact with their counterparts from Pyongyang ``wherever we can find them,'' the official said.

The U.S. government officials apparently have been stymied not only by the North Koreans' secretive manner, but also by their failure to make clear just what steps could have resolved the dispute quickly.

by CNB