By Lee Tae-hoon
Staff Reporter
The two Koreas agreed to open each other's airspace between Pyongyang and Daegu, a southeastern city of the South, through the mediation of the International Civil Aviation Organization in October 1997.
The Letter of Agreement between the Pyongyang Area Control Center and the Taegu Area Control Center, signed in February 1998, however, specifies only technical information on aircraft operations, such as coordination and communication procedures.
Unlike recent media reports, the agreement, which neither has binding force nor elaborates on liability, does not state safety measures for passengers or flights except for Y2K contingency procedures.
Seoul has neither concluded an aeronautical agreement nor reached an additional agreement that would guarantee the safety of passengers flying over the communist North.
The agreement also does not mention any fine or penalty if one side withdraws from the agreement or threatens the safety of flights.
The government called North Korea's threat to the safety of South Korean passenger airplanes over its airspace a violation of international rules, Friday.
Fifty-one South Korean civilian airplanes and 32 freight aircraft pass through North Korean airspace each week. The South's two flagship carriers, Korean Air and Asian Airlines, pay 685 euros each time one of their airplanes passes through the North's airspace in accordance with international aviation standards. Korean Air and Asian Airlines, respectively, pay $3 million and $600,000 annually to Pyongyang.
It takes an additional 30 to 60 minutes and costs 4 million won ($2,582) extra when each airplane bound for the Americas takes an alternate air route.
leeth@koreatimes.co.kr
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