All 269 passengers were killed, CNN wrote, on the flight that had originated at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to Seoul's Gimpo International Airport via Anchorage. Soviet officials claimed they believed the aircraft to be an American spy plane, The Week reported, that looked similar to the Korean Air aircraft.
It was the second time that a Korean Air aircraft was fired upon by Soviet forces, the first time being in 1978, the New York Times reported, on a flight from Paris to Seoul via Anchorage and Tokyo that also strayed into USSR airspace. The pilot, who cited an error in the aircraft's navigational system for the accidental incursion, was able to land deep within the communist country, saving the lives of almost everyone on board.