Soviet+Union+shoots+down+South+Korean+airliner

=Soviet Union shoots down South Korean airliner=

Overview
On September 1 1983, the Soviet Union fired upon a South Korean airliner that had entered their airspace. The Soviets had already involved in another airplane catastrophe in 1978. That time, they forced a airliner to make an emergency landing, killing two passengers in the event. The newer flight to be wrecked was Korean Airlines flight 007. It was supposed to fly from New York City to Seoul with a break at Anchorage, Alaska. The Boeing 747 began going off the fightplan near the end of the trip. By the end, it lay 200 miles away from where it was supposed to be.

Central Issue
The airliner began to pass near the Kamchatka Peninsula, an area the Soviets had secret operations and US spy planes had been monitoring. As the flight went into their territory, two Soviet Su-15 fighters were deployed to solve the situation. Their first attempt was to contact the airliner by radio. Unfortunately this failed. Then one of the fighters released two heat-seeking missiles against the passenger liner. The result was devastating. Fight 007 crashed in Sea of Japan; all 269 passengers died.

Conclusion/Historical Significance
This event was a major event in the Cold War. Some of the Soviet officials involved in the disaster were lowered in rank or fired. However, the importance of it was the furthered divide between the Soviets and the United States. The United States was outraged by the atrocity. President Regan banned Soviet flights from entering the United States. Also some agreements being worked on between the two countries were canceled. The event was a costly misunderstanding; no one has figured out why flight 007 went so far off course. For the Soviet Union, it was a devastating misunderstanding as world opinion slumped only lower of them.