DATE=9/6/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=NORTH KOREA / AIRPORT SECURITY
NUMBER=5-46972
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: North Korea is warning the United States it
might take action in response to what it says was rude
and provocative treatment of a senior government
delegation travelling to a meeting at the United
Nations in New York. The government in Pyongyang says
the delegation was asked to submit to body searches
before members could board an American Airlines flight
at Frankfurt, Germany on Monday. The North Korean
delegation refused to undergo the searches and
returned home. But as V-O-A's Nick Simeone reports,
U-S aviation authorities say the airline security
personnel were following proper procedures.
TEXT: Air travelers routinely go through body
searches at airports, especially during times of
heightened states of alert. But North Korea says
members of its New York-bound delegation were ordered
to undress and be searched more thoroughly than other
travelers.
American Airlines won't talk about the matter, other
than to say it has apologized for the incident. The
U-S Federal Aviation Administration says the airline's
security personnel did nothing wrong, since North
Korea is designated by the United States as a country
that supports terrorism. Seth Young is a professor of
aviation and airport management at Florida's Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University.
/// YOUNG ACT ///
If, in the case of the North Korean incident,
these people were expected to be at a summit,
any advance notice that these people were going
to be there to give the security a heads-up may
have prevented this incident all together. I
don't know if the security team was briefed on
what was going to happen and when they saw a
North Korean person walk through, someone got
suspicious and gave them the full search.
/// END ACT ///
In fact, a State Department official admits the
situation could have been avoided if the North Korean
delegation had informed the United States of its
travel plans in advance. Some of the normal security
procedures could then have been waived.
Arthur Morgan, an airport security expert who has
worked for governments around the world, thinks
security personnel at Frankfurt airport probably had
no idea who the North Koreans were.
/// MORGAN ACT ///
Any emissary of a sovereign nation has the right
to travel unimpeded unless it's considered a
threat to the civilian personnel nearby and that
would mean he would have been carrying some type
of explosives. It was field people just acting
on procedure and they were not sensitive to the
individuals they were dealing with. They were
treating them more like criminals.
/// END ACT ///
Washington has expressed regret over the incident and
has let the Pyongyang government know the mishap
should not be allowed to derail what have been warming
relations between both countries. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/JP
06-Sep-2000 15:40 PM LOC (06-Sep-2000 1940 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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