Backing Down on Flight 007

Ever since a Soviet fighter plane shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in September 1983, there have been numerous theories about the events that led to the attack. One explanation appeared last June in the British magazine Defence Attache. According to the anonymous author, the U.S. accidentally triggered the tragedy by using the airliner to gather intelligence about Soviet air defenses. The plane, the writer contended, intentionally flew over Soviet territory in order to test the country's reflexes as the space shuttle Challenger and a U.S. Ferret-D electronic data-gathering satellite observed from above.

The article provoked a good deal of anger, particularly from KAL, which sued the magazine. The two sides reached a settlement in a British court last week under which Defence Attache will print an apology and pay "substantial damages" to KAL. Further details of the settlement, including the amount to be paid to the airline, were not disclosed, but the South Korean government could not hide its pleasure. Calling the article "outrageously distorted," an official declared, "We hope the court settlement will put an end to the seemingly endless speculations about unauthorized missions of Flight 007."