Changnang Incident

The Changnang Hijacking Incident (滄浪號拉致事件) was an incident on 16 February 1958 in which a DC-3 airliner of Korean National Airlines, the predecessor of Korean Air, was hijacked by North Korean agents over Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. It was the first aircraft hijacking in the history of the Republic of Korea.

Overview

On 16 February 1958, the Changnang (registration HL106), a Douglas DC-3 operated by Korean National Airlines on the Busan–Seoul route, was flown by captain Willis P. Hobbs and first officer McLaren, a United States Air Force lieutenant colonel. It carried 34 people in total: 29 passengers (28 adults and 1 child), 3 crew members, and 1 U.S. military advisory group lieutenant colonel (unofficial crew member). It took off from Busan Airport at 11:30 a.m. and was hijacked over Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and forced to land at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport in North Korea.

In particular, the passengers included four foreigners, among them two Americans, including the Changnang's captain Hobbs, and a German couple, Johannes Literhis and his wife. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the German Embassy therefore carried out active efforts to secure the passengers' return.¹ North Korea falsely announced through its media that Korean National Airlines had "defected to the North of its own will" (crossing the military demarcation line by its own volition).

Meanwhile, the Korean National Police announced on the 20th of the same month that five North Korean agents, including the brothers Kim Taek-seon and Kil Gil-seon, Kim Sun-gi, Choi Gwan-ho, and Kim Hyeong, were the hijackers (seven in total, including the accompanying defectors Kim Ae-hui and Kim Sin-ja). Five days later, on the 25th, they arrested three people, including Gi Deok-yeong, on charges of carrying out the plot and of being behind it. Of the three later brought to trial, only Gi Deok-yeong was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including espionage and robbery with injury, while the other two were released.