HM1IJ 1976 South Korea

Operator: Lim Sang-Ki

The prefix of HL used to be HM but  HM was re-assigned to North Korea in 1977 by the ITU so all HM prefixes had to be changed to HL shortly after. That was upsetting to a lot of South Korean amateurs because there was virtually no amateur radio activity in the north!

Lim Sang-Ki, HM1IJ, actually stayed with our family for a short time back around 1978 or so when we lived in Kangnam-Gu, Seoul, Korea.  He told us of his nice collection of small whiskey bottles that you see in the QSL photo. Collecting those was his passion and he often talked about them!

Mr. Lee worked for Korean Air Lines as a crew member. If you remember, KAL Flight 007 was absolutely no threat whatsoever but was shot down on September 1, 1980 by a Russian SU-15 Interceptor. All 269 passengers plus crew on board this civilian aircraft were killed and Mr. Lim was one of the crew. This had been a terrible thing that the Russians had done to an air liner that had just strayed into Russian air space. They could have forced it to land instead but did not. Sang-Ki is very much missed by all who knew him...Tom W8AI.

QSL courtesy of VA6AW
Info courtesy of HL9TN, HL9XX, W8AI