FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF AN ADDRESS BY AMBASSADOR KIRKPATRICK TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AS RECORDED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES:

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91B00874R000100260006-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Following is a transcript of an address by Ambassador
Kirkpatrick to the United Nations Security Council
as recorded by The New York Times:
Thank you, Mr. President.
Most of the world outside the Soviet
Union has heard by now of the Korean
Flight 7, carrying 289 persons be.
tween New York and Seoul, which
stayed off course into Soviet.
space, was tracked by Soviet radar,
was targeted by a Soviet SU-15 whose
pilot cooly and after careful consider-
ation fired two air-launched missiles
which the Korean airliner
and apparently destroyed the 289 passengers and
crew.
This calculated attack an a civilian
airliner - unarmed, undefended, as
civilian airliners always are - has
shocked the world.
Only the Soviet people have still not
heard about this attack on the K.A.L.
7 and the death of the passengers, be.
cause the Soviet Government has not
acknowledged firing on the Korean
airliner. Indeed, not until Sept. S did
. bat K.AA..L.7had disap red in its
icy waters.
The Soviet Government has not
been silent about the plane, however.
It has merely lied.
Gromyko Statement
On Sept. 1, Foreign Minister
Gromyko announced, and I quote:
"An unidentified plane coming from
the direction of the Pacific Ocean en-
tered the airspace of the Sw4et Union
over Kamchatka Peninsul and for
the second time violated Soviet
airspace over the Sakhalin
"The plane did not have siilgation
lights, did not respond to queries and
did not enter into contact with the
radio control service..'
Foreign Minister Gromyko contin-
ued: "Fighters of the antiaircraft de-
fense, which were sent aloft toward
the intruder plane, tried to give it
assistance in directing It to the near-
est airfield. But the intruder plane did
not react to the 3a and warnings
from the Soviet fighteers and contin-
ued its flight in the direction of the
Sea of Japan." End quotation.
Page 1 of 5
The next day, Sept. 2, Taal re.
aairsppaace had beeps ncharge 4e olate ede
y
d b
quote, "an unidentified plane" which
quote, "in violation of international
regulations flew without navigation
lights," unquote. Tess referred to et-
forts to establish contacts with the
?' ~wlly
BMW abodd U is th testitoi- or the
*VW .
NOW the &ftalin Ireland ~
tWy
aid. a Soviet aircrah
am" with tracer shelb aloes the
toms of the Slam- Soon after
er T eke ui
towa the and or Jaappa . For
about 10 minutes it was wltitfn the ol-
' Mc',aIIon sons of radio location
means, after which it could be ob-
seeved enmore." E d quotatloes.
?ti
NMer~eisa 1.yMa
' when So~-isR General
*omamv
Mft admitted that as
_
owns m peop* he aria
f etlfoer was mm its lights
COL
Tft Is what Teas saw this to what
Soviet cmclah aaid, bon we do not
c ft-Wadasat have
to eaodec about what malty hap-
* s, or wheen it happened, or what
looow, beams we krow what the
pilots who faMi ed the 1G0?
airMse.ovar the akbaNo zafeoda
tlM RmI a iod Di m
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18:46 on Aug..31 while they tracked,
discussed and destroyed'the Korean
airliner and its rs.
The United States ent, in
cooperation with the Government of
Japan, has decided to spread the evi-
dence before this Council and the
world. It is available on the videotape
which will be played.
On this tape you will hear the voices
of pilots of Soviet interceptors, which
included three SU-15 Flagons and one
MIG-23 Fl , including the SU-15
pilot who pulled the trigger which re-
leasedthe missal that destroyed the
Korean Air Lines Flight 7.
InstruatIos From Ground
While- it is obvious that the pilots
are acknowledging instructions from
ground co ollers, those instructions
are not audible. What we are about to
play back for you is the Inntercepted
tape of the actual air-to- nmmdd re-
ports.
It is, of course, in Russian. On the
monitor screens you will see, simulta-
neously, the original Russian and the
translation, Through your
system you will listen to these
voices in translation into all the work-
languages of the United Nations.
immediately following MY presen-
tation, Mr. President, the Russian-to-
English transcript will be made
available to all who may wish to study
it. After this session of the Security
Council, an audio cassette on which
voices are still clealer will be pro-
vided to any interested mission.
Nothing was cut from this tape. The
recording was made on a voice-actu-
ated recorder and, therefore, it
covers only those periods of time
when conversation was heard.
Let us now listen to the tape.
(Tape of Russian pilots is played)
The transcript we have just heard,
Mr. President, needs little explana-
tion. Quite simply, it establishes that
the Soviets decided to shoot down W
civilian airliner, shot it down, mur
donna the 2* persons, onboard, and
lied a it. .
Thal
The transcript of thepilots' cockpit
conversations Illuminate several key
points. '
The interceptor which shot K.A.L. 7
down had the airliner In sight for over
20 minutes before firing his missiles.
Cootrary what`the Soviets have a-
-sa d the
:d reported that flsrct to tie grv?d
on three oocasiaos.
Comm to Soviet sttte?ents, the
aatoes no m of firing any "VAUD
of
miseries which. he paid, ptsuck the
argot
Contrary . to Soviet states "m
there is no indkation whatsoever that
the ia~teroep~oc pibt mt .s any at-
either tp With the
aidmer or to. signal It for tt to land in
aoooedarioe with sooepoad 'iatsrns-
Indeed; else Soviet Lroeptor
be 'tsch:tlcally Incapable
places may
.of by radio with civil-
am= MON44MID ~~abtf-c~atdfearoi
Qasstlr eI iie^tit~ ,
the neost shod fact
leareted the transcript is that at
no point did ties pilots raise ffis qws- .
don of the ideality of the target air-
craft. Nor at Uwe did the War-
AS-&-
tber~ecto it as smthing
The only ad Mty bearing an the
Mewity meet by of pilo ti dthe atta k ng ia-
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tc-=--'~r that "the target Isn't re-
to I.F.F." This means the
aircraft not respond to. the e
tronic in by which mili-
tary aircraft tity friends or toes.
But of course, the Korean airliner,
or any civilian airliner, could not
have responded to I.F.F., because
commercial aircraft are not equipped
to do so.
We know the interceptor which shot
down K.A.L. 7 flew behind, alongside
and in front of the airliner, coming at
least as close as two kilometers
be-
fore dropping back behind the plane
to fire his missiles.'
At a distance of two kilometers.
under the conditions at
that time, it was a to
identify a 747 passenger Ei-
then the Soviets did not know the Y.O.
rear' plans was a commercial airln-
er, or he did not know what he wog fir-
---
the latter, then he !trod his
deadly missiles without knuwTing or
caring,what they becould easily pulled up to wttb
. some number of meters of the
airliner to assure its identity, be did
not bother to do so.
In either can, ?tlere was shocking.
ddisrepard for human life and intena-
nooa1 norms.
In the days following the dstit>f,
Lion of K.A.L. 7, Soviet leades.and
the Soviet pres4 have said repeatedly
they do not understand what all the
fuss is about.
. They began by accusing the United
States of creating a hullabaloo about
nothing. And more recently they have
accused us of a provocation, imply-,
we provoked them into hooting down
an airliner that strayed into their
space provoked them into violating
the internationally agreed upon
standards and practices of behavior.
They have spoken as though a
plane's stray' off course is a crime
punishable by death. They have sug-
gested that "like any kelf-respecting
state, they are doing no more than
looking after their sovereignty which
they shall permit no one to violate."
They have claimed, still without ac-
knowledgeing that they shot down the
Korean airiner, that "our antiaircraft
defense has fulfilled its duty for the
defense of the security of our mother-
land." They have suggested that they
may have mistaken the Korean
airliner for an American reconnais-
~venra Air/ still An* ant admit
fiat they *ttad ad destroyed it.
But none of these, half-lies and
mouses can wtthatand examination.
Straying off course is not recog-
nised as a capital crime by civilized
nations. No nation has the sovereign
--right _to Shoo down- -person or
vehicle that may stray across its bor-.
der in peacetime. .
It's interesting in this reegard to
refer to the statements made by the
Soviet Government at the time that
they were strenuously rejecting the
complaiht of the Government
Sweden of an erct+oachment
Swedish territorial waters.
At that time, the note addressed to
the Government of Sweden by the
Sovt4t Union said, and I quote, "What
sober-minded person - to say noth-
ing of military specialists - can sup-
pose that a submarine in a surface
run with nmoing lights on ? and run-
ning , diesels, the noise of which was
beard over a large distance, in-night.
time and in poor visibility conditions,
could engage- in 'impermissable ac-
thrtties ? ?? .
There are internationally agreed
upon standards for intercepting un-
welcome aircraft. Those internation-
ally agreed upon standards call for
serious efforts-at Identification, yeri-
fication, warning and, it the case is
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serious, for intercepting the intruder
and forcing it to land or to leave one's
airspace.
Sovereignty. neither requires nor
permits shooting down airliners in
peacetime.
Recently, the Soviets have implied
that the K.A.L. 7 may have been mis-
taken for a U.S. aerial reconnais-
sance flight..But that is no more per-
suasive.
The Korean Air Lines Boeing 747
was on a routine, scheduled flight. At
the time it was shot down, the U.S.
plane referred to by
the Soviets had been on the ground Tor
more than one hour, more than 1,500
miles away.
Moreover, the United States does
not fly reconnaissance missions in
Soviet airspace. We, do regularly op-
erate aircraft in international air-
space to monitor Soviet compliance
with. SALT and, other arms-control
agreements.
The Soviet Government knows
what our usual flight patterns are and
can readily identify these missions.
Finally, neither the United States
nor any other country upset about the
slaughter of the 269 passengers of
K.A.L. 7 is creating a hulabaloo by ex-
aggerating the importance of the
event.
We are protesting a very important
violation of the norms of civilized con-
duct on which international aviation
rests, without which it will not be pos-
sible for any of us to board airliners,
fly across continents and oc eans with-
out tear of becoming the object of a
murderous attack.
c evidence as irrefutable as the
tapes we have beard today.
The fact is that ylolence and lies
t~ternadsnal AleTravel
To a degree we rarely consider, in-
ternational air travel depends on net-
works of mutual to tbat we will not
shoot down one another's airliners,
kidnap, jail or poison passengers and
crews.
Why did the Soviet Union violate
these norms? Why have they lied
about it?
Two reasons most often advanced
to explain why the Soviet pilot shot
down the airliner are, first, that it
was a mistake: the mistake of a trig-
ger-happy pilot who, with his ground
controller, followed a philosophy of
shoot now, identify later.
But if pilot error was responsible
for this tragic mistake, why has the
Soviet Government not said so? Why
has it lied? And why is it comple-
menting its murderous attack on
K.A.L. 7 with a hint attack on the
United ~States for provocation and ag-
As I considered this quesdao, my
mind returned to a debate that tio
21
place in this Security CMxH some years ago when my distingWsbed
pedeoessor.. Gov. Adlai Stevenson of
that a series of facilities forlaunrhing
offensive nuclear missiles were being
Soviet RtativeamWwedor
Zoriri flatly de> ded those charges and,
as Soviet repreaeatatives so often do,
wed his?denlal with a vicious at-
tack on the United States. Calling our
attention to threatening Soviet behav-
ior, Zarin asserted, only mask the
United States' own aggression and
py.
-
But Mini Stevenson, too, had evi-
denee to back up his-charge, photo.
are regular instrnrnens of Soviet
policy. Soviet of c ials regulary be-
have as though truth were only a
function of fore and will, as if the
truth were only what they said it is, as
if viol were an instrument of first
resort i4foreign affairs.
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They occupy Afghanistan and ac-
cuse the United States of interference
in its internal affairs. They create
massive new European vulnerabil-
ities with their SS-20's and accuse
NATO of seeking to upset the balance
of power.
We think otherwise. We believe that
truth is as vital to cooperation and
peace among nations as among peo-
ple.
Global Prospects
It is depressing to consider seri-
ously our global prospects if those
prospects must be built on relations
devoid of truth, devoid of trust.
It is depressing to consider a world
in which a major nation, equipped
with the most powerful modern weap-
ons, believes it has a sovereign right
to fire on a commercial airliner lost
over its territory.
These Soviet actions and claims il-
luminate the Soviet conception of ap-
propriate relations among nations in
peacetime.
They illuminate the world in which
we live and work and make policy. Of
course, some sophisticated observers
believe that the destruction of Flight 7
was neither the work of an isolated
Strangeglove, unconcerned about
human life, nor of that Strangeglove
and his ground controller, but was in-
stead a deliberate stroke designed to
intimidate.
A brutalgdecisive act meant to in-
still fear and hesitation in all who ob-
served this ruthless violence, Much
as the destruction of an Afghan vil-
lage or the imprisonment of the Hel-
sinki monitors are intended to secure
compliance through terror.
Whichever the case, whether the
destruction of K.A.L. 7 and its passen-
gers reflect only utter indifference to
human life, or whether that destruc-
tion was designed to intimidate, we
are dealing here not with pilot error
but with decisions and priorities char-
acteristic of a system.
Not only did Soviet officials shoot
down a stray eornmerpal airliner
and He about, they have callously re-
fused offers of international' 'partici-
pation in search and rescue efforts in
spite of clearly stated international
standards and recommended prac-
tices of the. International Civil Avia-
tion Organization, which call on
states to --grant any necessary per-
mission for the entry of such aircraft,
vessels, personnel or equipment into
its territory and make necessary ar-
rangements with a view to expediting
We are reminded aace again that
the Soviet Union is a state based on
the dual prine*les of callousness and
mendacity, dedicated to the rule of
force.
Here is how Lenin described the
dictatorship ofthe proletariat in 1920.
He said, and I quote, "The scientific
concept of dictatorship means, noth-
is~gg more than unrestricted power, ab.
edurtely tmimpeded by law or regula-
tionsand reatiag.direatly an force.,.
It is this principle of force, this
mentality Of force, that lies at the root
of the Korean Air Line tragedy. This
is the reality revealed to the world by
the tragedy. It is a reality we must all
ponder, as we consider threats to
peace and human rights that face. us
today.
The United States deeply believes
that immediate steps should be taken
here in the United Nations to de-
crease the likelihood of any repetition
of the tragedy of K.A.L. 7.
We ask our colleagues to join,with
us in the coming`hys in the effort to
wres from this about the character our world and
new constructive efforts to rimer us
all more secure in the air.andton the
ground.
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