15-5 0:49, the China Civil Aviation Trident Aircraft No. 296, carrying 96 passengers, slowly took off from Shenyang Dongta Airport and flew to Shanghai.
When the plane drove over the Bohai Bay, it was suddenly kidnapped by six people including Zhuo Changren and Jiang Hongjun with guns, and landed directly in South Korea, a country that had not established diplomatic relations with China at that time...
Zhuo Changren and six people were young people around 30 years old. Some of them were speculative, some robbed, and some were cheated. They were all illegal people who were lazy and wanted to get rich overnight.
At that time, the Taiwanese authorities had always encouraged mainland criminals to hijack transportation vehicles to Taiwan to "return to freedom", and often gave hundreds of taels of gold rewards, and even called him a "righteous man".
Zhuo Changren and others often eavesdrop on enemy radios. When they are bewitched, they decide to take risks and take a gamble.
An Weijian, whose father is the deputy director of the Organization Department of the Party Committee of Shenyang Sports University. He used this convenience to steal 4 American-made pistols and 30 bullets from the College Security Department, creating the necessary conditions for the hijacking.
After the plane flew over the Bohai Bay, Zhuo Changren and his gang broke into the cockpit with guns, pressed the gun against the captain Wang's head, and forced the pilot to fly the trident towards South Korean airspace.
Zhuo Changren went to aviation school and had certain aviation knowledge, so the captain tried to change the flight course on the way and returned to the right path, but they were all seen through by cunning criminals and failed.
The murderers crazily threatened the captain: If you play tricks, everyone will die with the plane.
For the safety of the members on the plane, the captain had no choice but to compromise.
The reason why the murderers chose to fly to South Korea was carefully considered, because the world was still in the Cold War, when the mainland and South Korea had no diplomatic relations.
, while South Korea and Taiwan have the same ideology and have "diplomatic relations" with each other. According to the flight, the fuel of the aircraft is not enough to fly to Taiwan, so they can only fly to the nearby South Korea. When they arrive in South Korea, they can use it as a springboard and transfer to Taiwan to seek credit for rewards.
at this time South Korea's naturally knew nothing about this hijacking, so after the plane entered the South Korea's airspace was discovered by the radar, South Korea's was facing a great enemy, and the military aircraft immediately took off to intercept it.
In this case, the plane landed in South Korea Chuncheon Airport. After the plane landed, the six murderers continued to control the plane and crew and demanded to meet with our Taiwan "ambassador" to South Korea.
After nearly 8 hours of negotiations with the criminals, the two sides temporarily reached a compromise under the coordination and pressure of other parties. The criminals allowed the crew and passengers to leave the plane, and the captain drove the plane to a nearby US military base. After the
plane landed, it was immediately surrounded by fully armed US soldiers. Six gangsters were disarmed by the US military and handed over to the South Korean police. The news of the hijacking of
reached Beijing, and the relevant departments began a intensive diplomatic work. First, we must protect the safety of passengers and crew members and arrange for them to return to China as soon as possible (except for the three Japanese passengers); second, we must extradite the hijacking criminals back to China and allow them to accept sanctions from domestic laws.
This seems to us today to be an easy task, but in the international environment at that time, it was not easy to complete these two tasks?
As we all know, shortly after our country was founded, a war broke out in the peninsula.
This war is essentially a civil war, and the protagonist is North and South Korea, which belongs to the same nation. Due to the US invasion, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army had to send troops to North Korea to defend its country. In this way, China and South Korea naturally became hostile countries.
In sharp contrast to it, China has had close relations with North Korea and has helped it for decades, which is a comrade and brotherly relationship.
Therefore, China's relations with South Korea entered a freezing period and were frozen for 30 years.
. South Korea has a "long-standing" relationship with the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan. As early as the War of Resistance Against Japan, the South Korean government in exile took refuge in Chongqing.
After South Korea's independence, people who drank water did not forget to dig wells. After all, in history, the Republic of China government helped the "Republic of Korea".
Therefore, for 30 years, China and South Korea have not recognized each other. South Korea regards the "Republic of China" as China's "legal" representative, while China calls the South Korean government the "Ri Seung-wan bandit gang", "Park Chung-hee group", "South Korea puppet regime", and "imperialist lackey".
Before the 1970s, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had internal regulations: Chinese diplomats were prohibited from contacting South Korean government officials, whether in the United Nations or in other diplomatic occasions. Even if you meet on a narrow road, you cannot say hello, let alone shake hands. This tension was quietly loosened in the early 1970s. The reason for the loosening of
is that China-Japan and China-US relations have undergone subtle changes.
In the 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated, and armed conflicts broke out on Zhenbao Island, and the two countries were tense. Against this background, Sino-US relations began to quietly improve, and finally established diplomatic relations in 1979, achieving normalization of bilateral relations.
Before this, China and Japan also established diplomatic relations and achieved normalization of diplomatic relations.
Since the boss has made up with China, South Korea, as a younger brother, has no reason to continue to be hostile to China.
As a result, South Korea's hostility towards China gradually disappeared and began to choose to release goodwill intentionally or unintentionally.
For example, when Chinese mainland fishing boats were first discovered in the South Korean waters, the South Korean government's usual practice was to send fishing boats to Taiwan. The reason was very simple. They did not recognize the People's Republic of China diplomatically.
Since the loosening of Sino-US relations in the early 1970s, when South Korea discovered Chinese fishing boats in its territorial waters, it asked if they were from mainland China, so it friendly and would not be sent to Taiwan.
After China and Japan and China and the United States have successively established diplomatic relations, South Korea's desire to improve relations with China is even more urgent.
979 After Chun Doo-hwan became president, South Korea's foreign policy was adjusted according to changes in the international situation, mainly reflected in improving relations with socialist countries, especially in its commitment to improving relations with the Soviet Union and China.
In the view of South Korea, their security threat mainly comes from the north, and the Soviet Union and China can affect North Korea's foreign policy. If they have good relations with these two major powers, North Korea will not have the confidence to disturb the situation on the peninsula, and the peninsula will usher in long-term peace.
From an economic perspective, China, with a population of one billion, has just begun reform and opening up, and there is great demand in all aspects. It is a huge market in development. Once the relationship between the two countries is improved, South Korea's goods can open up sales here, and technology and capital will also have a good investment.
When the United States and Japan have taken the lead, South Korea must make great strides to catch up, strive to get a share of the pie.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, our foreign policy has also changed, focusing on economic development and foreign policy is more pragmatic.
At this time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has quietly abolished the principle of Chinese diplomats not contacting South Korean officials in international occasions. They can smile when they meet, and even shake hands, no longer as cold as ice and as strangers.
However, because no one can match the relationship, improving the relationship can only be theoretically and not implemented in specific actions.
Just like the "ping-pong diplomacy" between China and the United States, there must be an "unexpected incident" in order to release each other's kindness and establish a benign communication channel. No one expected that the "Zhuo Changren hijacking incident" would become an opportunity for the two countries to improve their relations. After the passenger plane of
96 was kidnapped by Zhuo Changren and six other criminals to Chunchuan Airport, the Taiwan "ambassador" to South Korea was ecstatic after hearing the news and immediately contacted South Korea, hoping to pick up the criminals such as Zhuo Changren and were away.
The South Korean government is hoping to take this opportunity to release goodwill to the Chinese government, so it did not immediately agree to the so-called "ambassador"'s request.
Not only that, after all the personnel on Flight 296 were transferred to Seoul, then South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan immediately convened a cabinet meeting and made important decisions, first, to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel; second, to allow Chinese passengers and crew to eat and sleep well, and to have a "feeling home"; third, to act in accordance with international law and not be led by Taiwan.
Under the President's order, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice took immediate action. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs first issued a public statement , expressing its willingness to return passengers and aircraft to China in a timely manner in accordance with the provisions of international law.
However, South Korea has made a request that you, China, want to come to negotiate with us. The subtext is that you hope to take advantage of this opportunity to contact China directly and lay the foundation for improving bilateral relations.
Secondly, the foreign affairs department allocated a huge sum of US$100,000 in advance to solve the food and accommodation expenses of stranded Chinese aircraft personnel. They were also arranged to stay in a five-star hotel in Seoul (later renamed Seoul). The rooms were carefully arranged in Chinese style, and traditional Chinese calligraphy and paintings were posted on the four walls. Even the furniture was specially collected.
Two injured crew members were sent to the "Three Army General Hospital", the hospital with the best medical conditions in South Korea, for treatment.
Not only that, South Korea also organized Chinese stranded personnel to travel to Seoul to enthusiastically let everyone know about the customs and achievements of South Korea.
When everyone left, the bag was filled with electronic products and handicrafts given by South Korea. I don’t know, but I really think it’s to entertain relatives who have settled overseas.
When South Korea enthusiastically resettled Chinese crew members and passengers, the Chinese government had already informed South Korea through Japan, hoping to send representatives to Seoul to negotiate with them on matters related to the hijacking incident.
Jong Doo-hwan immediately decided to open a flight passage for the Chinese delegation through Jeju Island-Incheon-Seoul, and receive the Chinese delegation with high standards. At 11:00 on May 7, Shen Tu, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, led a delegation of 33 people to arrive at Gimpo Airport, South Korea. This is the first time that the Chinese official delegation has set foot on this strange land in South Korea after the Korean War.
South Korea attaches great importance to the arrival of the Chinese negotiating team. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs dispatched all to receive the Chinese delegation at a high standard. When the plane landed, Kong Luming, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, and Kim Che-young, director of the Civil Aviation Administration, had been waiting for a long time.
The Chinese delegation stepped on the red carpet as soon as they got off the plane, and the carpet was laid all the way to the airport VIP room. Then thirty special cars sent the Chinese delegation to the Silla Hotel, each with two South Korean officials.
Even if it is our translation, the other party sent Director of the Asian Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to greet him personally, and did not dare to neglect at all.
And our delegation also came prepared when he went to South Korea. First, he brought a large box of cash, a full 50,000 US dollars. Because the two countries have no direct financial transactions, they can only bring cash. The cash brought by
is to pay for the aircraft maintenance and parking costs, and the second is to pay for the food and accommodation costs of our staff in Seoul.
But when South Korean officials heard that we were withdrawing money, they became "urgent" on the spot. They insisted on not having any penny, and asked our officials to take it back.
South Korean officials said: "Don't be embarrassed. You come today. We are the masters and should receive them well. In the future, we will go to Beijing, and you will do whatever you want."
Isn't this "forced" us to reciprocate, and it can't help but make people think a lot.
The next thing to do is to go straight to the point. We started negotiating with the other party on substantive issues. First, take the passengers and planes back to China; second, repatriate the hijackers.
For South Korea, the first question is not a problem at all; the second question is that South Korea also needs to take into account Taiwan’s feelings and cannot be repatriated.
Moreover, there is no diplomatic relations and no extradition regulations between the two countries. South Korea's "repayment" operation has great technical difficulties, which is unreasonable in legal procedures.
So South Korea came up with a compromise plan, neither immediately agreed to the Taiwanese authorities' request to send criminals to Taiwan nor to deport criminals to the mainland, but instead conducted judicial trials on hijacking criminals in its own country.
South Korea claims that according to the Hague Convention adopted in 1970, the country where the hijacked aircraft belongs to the hijacked aircraft and the landing countries have jurisdiction and can be tried by hijacking criminals, which is in accordance with international practice.
The Chinese delegation does not want to continue to stalemate on the extradition issue, because it will delay the return of the aircraft crew. It decided to put the extradition issue aside first and reserve the right to further negotiate on the extradition criminals.
In this way, the problem will be solved.
However, when signing the agreement (memorandum), I encountered another technical problem, which is also a political and diplomatic problem. The
agreement was signed by two countries, and the signature was of course the People's Republic of China and South Korea.
At that time, China and South Korea did not establish diplomatic relations, and they did not recognize each other. We only called it South Korea, but the documents prepared by the other party had the "Republic of Korea" in the middle and signatures. What should we do?
Such a major issue, the Chinese delegation cannot make decisions on the spot.
The person in charge of the South Korean delegation is Kong Luming, the deputy official of the Korean Foreign Ministry. This person has a special identity and is somewhat related to Confucius in China. He claims to be Confucius' 72nd generation grandson.
When he saw the Chinese official hesitant when signing, he started playing the emotional card, and finally said: "As the masters these days, we have made you eat attentively, right? The hospitality is still warm. Do you feel at home?"
Chinese officials can only be realistic and nodded seriously.
"Since that's the case, should you, as guests, make some statements?" Kong Luming said enthusiastically and sincerely.
On the evening, the delegation negotiated and felt that since sitting with the other party, the hijacking incident involving international conventions was handled, which itself shows that South Korea is a subject of international law and does not recognize the "Republic of Korea", the negotiation premise does not exist, which is unreasonable in terms of law.
The next day, a flexible approach was introduced. We proposed to omit several "Republic of Korea" that appeared in the agreement, and only appeared once at the end of the signing of the delegation leader. China did not use the word "Chinese government" in the signature. The final signature of the memorandum is:
"Shen Tu, Director of the Aviation Administration of the People's Republic of China"
"Kong Luming, the first official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea"
No matter what, it finally did not cause diplomatic storms and did not change the status quo of diplomatic relations, but also took care of the feelings of the Koreans.
Even so, Kong Luming was very happy and thanked him in Chinese. He was later promoted to South Korea's Foreign Minister and has been active in the position of official and civil exchanges between China and South Korea.
Until this point, the incident came to an end. Our goal was basically achieved. The plane and crew returned to China safely 5 days after the hijacking.
South Korea is also basically satisfied. First, it gave the Taiwan authorities face, second, it made China basically satisfied, third, China and South Korea have had their first contact and held an ice-breaking journey.
Although the road ahead is long, once a gap is opened and a light leaks in, it will not be closed again.
1986, Mr. Deng made a clear statement that China needs to improve China-South Korea relations. In the same year, the Chinese delegation participated in the Asian Games held in South Korea and in 1988 it was impolite to come but not to go. In 1990, South Korea participated in the Asian Games held in Beijing. In 1992, China and South Korea officially established diplomatic relations, and the title of "South Korea" has also become a historical term.
Although China and South Korea established diplomatic relations nearly 10 years after the Zhuo Changren hijacking case, the handling of this hijacking case was tantamount to laying the best preparation.
Finally, I will explain the handling of Zhuo Changren and his accomplices. On May 22, 1983, the South Korean Supreme Court made a final judgment on Zhuo Changren and six other criminals, upholding the original sentence of sentences of four to six years in prison respectively.
htmlOn August 13, South Korea announced that it would "stop serving sentences" and "deport" to six criminals including Zhuo Changren, and sent them to Taiwan on the same day.
years later, in July 1991, Zhuo Changren and Jiang Hongjun were sentenced to death for kidnapping and murder in Taiwan, and in 2001, they were executed.
