The article describes accidents and incidents on Korean Air and its predecessor companies Korean National Airlines and Korean Air Lines. In the late 1990s, Korean Air was known for being "an industry pariah, notorious for fatal crashes" due to its extremely poor safety record as one of the world's most dangerous airlines. In 1999, Korea's President Kim Dae-jung described the airline's safety record as "an embarrassment to the nation" and chose Korean Air's smaller rival, Asiana, for a flight to the United States. Between 1970 and 1999, several fatal incidents occurred. Since 1970, 17 Korean Air aircraft have been written off in serious incidents and accidents with the loss of 700 lives. Two Korean Air aircraft were shot down by the Soviet Union, one operating as Korean Air Lines Flight 902 and the other as Korean Air Lines Flight 007. Korean Air's deadliest incident was Flight 007 which was shot down by the Soviet Union on September 1, 1983. All 269 people on board were killed, including a sitting U.S. Congressman, Larry McDonald. The last fatal passenger accident was the Korean Air Flight 801 crash in 1997, which killed 229 people. The last crew fatalities were in the crash of Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509 in December 1999. Safety has seemingly improved since as the airline made concerted efforts to improve standards which included bringing in outside consultants from Boeing and Delta Air Lines. In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded Korea's air-safety rating while Korean Air passed an International Air Transport Association audit in 2005. After the Flight 8509 accident, it would be 23 years until another Korean Air aircraft would be written off; Korean Air Flight 631 overshot the runway at Mactan–Cebu International Airport in October 2022. Several academics interviewed by CNBC shared the belief that the hierarchical, linear nature of Korean social interactions could be a contributor to the airline's safety issues.

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