Kyodo News is reporting that work on the disposal of the North Korean jet fighter that crashed in Liaoning, China, began on the afternoon of the 17th.
Kyodo reported this morning, quoting Xinhua, that “the vehicle of the North Korean Consulate General in Shenyang has arrived at the scene of the accident at Fushun, Liaoning. At the same time, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official is heading to Shenyang.” It said, “Choi Byeong Gwan, North Korean Ambassador to China, visited the Chinese Foreign Ministry too, and it seems that the two countries are negotiating on what measures to take, including collection of the plane fuselage.”
Regarding the cause of the crash, Asahi Shimbun reports, “China received a request for an emergency landing right before the crash,” adding, “the Chinese authorities think that something went wrong with the jet and it failed to land at a military airport near the scene of the accident.”
It explained, “Some in Beijing diplomatic circles say that the pilot was trying to defect to China, but experts on the North Korea-China relationship say that the possibility of his having wanted to defect to China, where defectors are most likely to be repatriated, is low.”
Mainichi Shimbun was similarly skeptical about the defecting theory, reporting, “It would have made more sense for the pilot to head south than to pass through Chinese airspace if he really was trying to defect. Most probably he was just on a patrol or training in response to the South Korea-United States joint military exercises which started on the 16th.”
A military expert in Beijing explained more about the jet in the same piece, saying, “The jet is a MiG-21. It can be identified by the bulging back of the fuselage and the wings, which are perpendicular to the body. Judging from the fact that there was no fire at the time of the crash, it can be assumed that the pilot attempted an emergency landing without any fuel left in the jet.”
Chinese authorities have blocked off all the roads travelling through the scene of the accident and are working on the collection of the remains of the jet and an investigation into the causes of the crash.
