BEIJING — A North Korean military aircraft crashed into a cornfield in northeastern China about 100 miles from the border, the Chinese government said Wednesday. Analysts believed the flight was a failed defection attempt.
The pilot was killed in the crash Tuesday, according to China’s official New China News Agency, which also reported that the government “is in communication on the matter with the North Korean side.”
Chinese authorities released little information about the crash, which took place in Fushun prefecture, Liaoning province. But photos reportedly taken by villagers were widely distributed on Chinese blogs showing the wreckage with a red star in a blue circle, the insignia of North Korea’s air force. The aircraft was identified as a Russian-made MiG fighter, most likely a MiG-21, although early reports had described it as a helicopter.
South Korean analysts said they believed the pilot was trying to escape his impoverished homeland, possibly heading toward Russia, which was more hospitable to defectors than China. Along the way, he might have run out of fuel.
