   korean air lines flight 007 (also known as kal007 and ke007kal&nbsp;007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used ke 007) was a scheduled korean air lines flight from new york city to seoul via anchorage. on september 1, 1983, the airliner serving the flight was shot down by a soviet su-15 interceptor near moneron island, west of sakhalin island, in the sea of japan. the interceptor's pilot was major gennadi osipovich. all 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed, including lawrence mcdonald, representative from georgia in the united states house of representatives. the aircraft was en route from anchorage to seoul when it flew through prohibited soviet airspace around the time of a u.s. reconnaissance mission. the soviet union initially denied knowledge of the incident,young & launer, pp. xiii,47 but later admitted the shootdown, claiming that the aircraft was on a spy mission. the politburo said it was a deliberate provocation by the united statespearson, p. 145 to test the soviet union's military preparedness, or even to provoke a war. the white house accused the soviet union of obstructing search and rescue operations.congressional record, september 20, 1983, pp. s12462-s12464 the soviet military suppressed evidence sought by the international civil aviation organization (icao) 
1983_in_South_Korea 1983_in_international_relations 1983_in_military_history 1983_in_the_Soviet_Union 1983_in_the_United_States Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_Boeing_747 Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_caused_by_pilot_error Airliner_shootdown_incidents Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_1983 Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_Russia Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_Soviet_Union Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007 Korean_Air_accidents_and_incidents KoreaaSoviet_Union_relations Marine_salvage_operations Mass_murder_in_1983 Military_scandals Sakhalin_Oblast Soviet_UnionaUnited_States_relations Violations_of_Soviet_airspace