Careful Response to an Accident

It was exactly the kind of incident that could have triggered military alerts--or worse--on the volatile frontier between the two Koreas. With a burst of gunfire, North Korean forces downed a U.S. helicopter that had strayed across the demarcation line; within minutes three of the American crewmen lay dead and the one survivor of the flight was taken prisoner. To ward off yet another Korean crisis, the White House moved quickly to defuse the situation created by the accidental incursion and North Korea's brutal response.

Two and a half days later, the incident had been resolved. After an intense, nine-hour negotiating session with American officials at Panmunjom, North Korea agreed to release Chief Warrant Officer Glenn Schwanke, 28, the sole survivor of the crash, and return the bodies of the three crewmen. Though the incident was caused by the "misconduct of your side," North Korea's Major General Han Chu-Kyong told U.S. Rear Admiral Warren C. Hamm Jr., "we are going to settle leniently."

Then, before a gathering of North Korean and American military officers, neutral observers and reporters, three white pine coffins were delivered to U.S. officials, who identified the bodies, resealed the coffins and carried them to the military demarcation line, where U.S. troops draped the American flag over each and bore it away. While the receipts were being signed, a Russian-made sedan drew up and Schwanke, looking pale and worn but otherwise in good shape, stepped out. Later the official North Korean news agency, monitored in Tokyo, said Schwanke had made a public apology at the city of Kae-song, five miles north of Panmunjom, shortly before his release.

The incident began when the crew of the twin-engine CH-47 Chinook apparently lost its way on a routine flight from Camp Humphreys, 40 miles south of Seoul, to a supply depot near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). As Presidential Press Secretary Jody Powell later explained, the helicopter's crew seemed to have made "a navigational mistake [and] veered north at the eastern end of the DMZ."

As the helicopter buzzed over the DMZ, a unit of South Koreans, realizing it was off course, fired their rifles into the air to warn it. The shots may have confused or frightened the Chinook's pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Miles, 26, who continued to proceed across the well-marked 2.5-mile-wide DMZ into North Korea. There he landed and inspected the aircraft for damage. President Carter later related that Miles then "got back into the helicopter and took off. The North Koreans, who were approaching, apparently shot the helicopter down." Miles, Sergeant Robert Haynes, 29, and Sergeant Ronald Wells, 22, were killed either in the crash or by North Korean gunfire after the chopper hit the ground. Schwanke survived and was taken into custody.

The Chinook was the sixth U.S. airship downed by the North since the Korean War's uneasy truce was signed 24 years ago. In that time, 54 Americans have been killed in a variety of clashes with the North Koreans; last year, Captain Arthur G. Bonifas and Lieut. Mark T. Barrett were bludgeoned to death with pikes and axes when they began pruning a tree in the DMZ. North and South Koreans killed in similar incidents number more than 1,000.

Carter got word of the tragedy while at a state dinner for visiting West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The President remained at the party. But National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski rounded up Pentagon Chief Harold Brown and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and headed to the Situation Room of the White House to study possible U.S. responses. Joining the session an hour later, Carter ordered that the initial U.S. reaction be conciliatory. Thus Press Secretary Powell announced that "any penetration of North Korean airspace that may have taken place was unintentional and regrettable."

Explained Carter the next morning:

"We are trying to let [the North Koreans] know that we realize the mistake was made by the crew in going into the DMZ. Our primary interest is in having the incident not escalate into a confrontation." This careful response contrasted sharply with President Gerald Ford's reaction to last year's ax killings of the two U.S. officers. The carrier Midway steamed into Korean waters, B-52s flew simulated bombing runs near the DMZ and U.S. troops in South Korea went on "increased alert status."

Troop Withdrawal. The North Korean reaction was also unexpectedly restrained. Pyongyang's official Central News Agency acknowledged that the Chinook's violation of North Korea's airspace might have been "unintentional." The key factor that helped to keep the situation cool was that Washington and Pyongyang both want to avoid an increase in tensions that might delay the departure of U.S. troops from South Korea. At week's end, Carter welcomed Schwanke's release and the return of the bodies. But Press Secretary Jody Powell said the President "deplored the loss of life and the excessive reaction to an unarmed and inadvertent intrusion."

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