By Kim Jun

Forty years have passed since the air force of the Korean People"s Army shot down the EC-121, a large espionage plane of the United States.

The US large espionage plane EC-121 shot down on April 15, 1969.

In the late 60s of last century the United States was engaged in persistent manoeuvres for a new war provocation in the Korean peninsula. Notable was the Pueblo Incident, when the US spy ship was captured by the KPA navy in January 1968. The incident, however, failed to give a lesson to the US, which launched a more provocative military rehearsal, aggravating the situation in the peninsula.

It reinforced its troops stationed in south Korea and the local puppet army, while shipping in vast amounts of state-of-the-art weapons and operational goods and conducting espionages against the DPRK. In such a situation the EC-121 Incident took place.

The EC-121 was a large espionage plane, fitted with a radar, transceiver and others to obtain military information of the enemy on its distribution of electronic commanding means and communication. The plane, based at Yokoda in Japan in 1964, had been engaged in air espionages against the DPRK before it was finally shot down at one try by the KPA planes on April 15, 1969 in the territorial sky of the DPRK.

It was a self-defensive measure, fully confirmed in the international laws, and also a just punishment for aggressors that the DPRK had decisively reacted against illegal intrusion of the US spy plane into its territorial sky.

Despite the fact, the United States misled the world by distorting that its plane had been shot down while doing its "legal reconnaissance over international waters", and openly threatened the DPRK.

The DPRK government therefore made public a statement, denouncing warlike remarks and attempts of aggression of the United States.

The incident was an occasion that proved the validity and vitality of the self-defence line of the DPRK and also manifested the might of the Korean People"s Army.

Even after the incident the United States has persevered with hostile espionages and military provocations, arms buildup and military rehearsals of various kinds against the DPRK, driving the situation to the brink of war.

The 1976 Panmunjom Incident broke out on August 18 when US troops felled down a tree in the joint security area without seeking consent from the counterpart in a deliberate attempt at concocting a war-intended racket under the pretext. Furthermore, it staged the Team Spirit military exercises jointly with south Korean belligerent forces from 1976 to the early 1990s. It has also waged DPRK-targeted joint war rehearsals every year under the codenames of RSOI, Foal Eagle and so on. There are countless instances that the United States has craved for its anti-DPRK military provocations, undermining peace and security in the Korean peninsula.

Both history and reality show who is to blame for wrecking peace and security in the Korean peninsula with war menaces. The United States must take the blame.

Source: Korea Today - April 2009