By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2003 -- Four North Korean fighter jets intercepted
a U.S. Air Force plane in international airspace over the Sea of Japan
early Mar. 2, Defense Department officials said.

Two North Korean MiG-29 fighters and two other North Korean aircraft
believed to be MiG-23s engaged the American RC-135S reconnaissance
aircraft, on a "routine mission" 150 miles off the coast of North
Korea, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman said this
afternoon.

The North Korean fighters "shadowed" the American plane for 22 minutes
starting at 10:48 a.m. local time -- Saturday evening Eastern time.
Davis said that at the North Korean aircraft closed to within 400 feet
of the American airplane at an equal altitude.

The fighters were armed and at least one engaged its fire-support radar
and "locked on" to the American jet, he said. The RC-135S then returned
unharmed to its home base in Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Defense officials said the incident is the first such direct hostile
act by North Korea since MiG-17 fighters from that country shot down a
U.S. Navy EC-121 reconnaissance plane over the Sea of Japan in April
1969, killing all 31 persons aboard.

Fifteen months before that shootdown, North Korean sailors boarded and
captured the USS Pueblo in international waters off the coast of North
Korea. One American sailor died defending the ship in the initial
attack. North Korea held the surviving 82 crew members for 11 months
before releasing them. All reported being beaten and tortured during
their captivity. North Korea kept the Pueblo and today maintains it as
a museum and propaganda tool.

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