THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200356
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN F. HARRIS AND T.R. REID, WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The helicopter downed in North Korea last weekend was 10 miles off its intended course, the Pentagon said Monday, and the Clinton administration signaled that the budding U.S. relationship with North Korea could be damaged if the surviving pilot is not promptly released.
In South Korea, Army Gen. Gary Luck, the senior U.S. commander in the theater, temporarily grounded the 31-helicopter aviation battalion that included the two pilots who apparently lost their way. Luck ordered refresher training for all pilots flying near the North Korean border.
In Washington, the State Department - increasingly frustrated by the delay in turning over Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall and the body of Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon - sent a message to North Korea saying that the incident was regrettable but that ``we cannot understand the delay we are encountering,'' spokesman Michael McCurry said.
The State Department acted after North Korea called off a scheduled meeting at the truce village of Panmunjon. The Pyongyang government said it had not finished its investigation of the helicopter incident and thus was not ready to talk.
The U.S. message was transmitted by Ambassador-at-Large Robert Gallucci, the chief U.S. negotiator of an October deal that would eliminate North Korea's nuclear weapons capability and provide the economically strapped state with more than $4 billion worth of new nuclear technology and fuel oil.
The choice of Gallucci was intended to let North Korea know that Washington is prepared to link the incident with its commitment under the nuclear deal to establish improved relations with North Korea, McCurry said. But senior officials said no plans had been made to hold up the scheduled delivery of some U.S. fuel oil to North Korea next month. ILLUSTRATION: THE PUEBLO INCIDENT
Fiercely protective of its borders, Communist North Korea has
held the United States at bay before using charges of territorial
violation as its weapon. In 1968, the 82-member crew of the Navy
intelligence ship Pueblo was imprisoned in the port of Wonsan and
held captive for nearly a year. Four members of the crew were
injured, one of them fatally, as they tried to burn secret documents
on the ship. Only after the United States admitted that the Pueblo
had entered North Korean waters illegally - and apologized in
writing - were Cmdr. Lloyd Bucher and his crew released.
KRT Map
HOW U.S. COPTER CROSSED INTO N. KOREA
SOURCE: Defense Deapartment
by CNB