Al-Qaeda Considered Attacking U.S. Facilities in Korea When Plotting 9/11

It has been revealed that Al-Qaeda had considered attacking U.S. facilities in Korea when preparing the 9/11 terror attack in 2001.

At a hearing held in Washington on June 16, the U.S. 9/11 Commission reported, “Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, had the scenario of exploding or ramming a hijacked civilian plane that was U.S.-bound across the Pacific from Southeast Asia into U.S. facilities in Japan, Singapore, or Korea at the same time of the attacks on the U.S. soil.” According to the commission, Mohammed had been pushing forward a plan to blast or crash airplanes in the U.S. and Asia, on both sides of the Pacific, in mid-1999, to make use of operatives who had been denied U.S. visas and to maximize the psychological trauma by the terror attacks.

The commission disclosed that Khallad, an operative that participated in the plots, actually boarded planes from Bangkok and Hong Kong in January 2000 for preliminary arrangements. However, the plan was not followed through as it was scrapped by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden who judged it too difficult to coordinate the hijacking and explosion of planes simultaneously on opposite sides of the planet, revealed the commission.

The commission also reported that the initial plot included plans to hijack 10 commercial planes and to attack cities in the east and west coast of the U.S. simultaneously.

Soon-Taek Kwon maypole@donga.com