N. Korean jet crashed in East Sea before rocket launch: gov't source

SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean supersonic fighter crashed into the
East Sea a day before Pyongyang launched its long-range rocket, government
sources said Thursday.
The source, who declined to be identified, said the MiG-23 jet was lost Saturday
while conducting a reconnaissance flight near the Musudan-ri rocket launch site
on the country's east coast.
"The exact cause is not known, but it could have been a problem with the engine,
since the fighter was not conducting any difficult moves at the time it fell from
the sky," the expert said.
He added that the plane may have been one of the forward-deployed aircraft sent
to North Hamgyong Province ahead of Sunday's launch.
The communist country claims the Unha-2 rocket successfully reached orbit and
deployed the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite, although most independent observers
argue that the mission failed to meet its goal.
The government source, meanwhile, said North Korean authorities dispatched an
Mi-8 helicopter from Pyongyang with investigators to determine why the plane fell
into the sea.
The single-engine, variable-geometry aircraft is one of the more modern jets in
North Korea's arsenal, although Russia retired MiG-23s in the early 1990s.
Besides the loss of the MiG-23, the South Korean military said the North lost two
MiG-21s earlier in the year.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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