Even after North Korea launched missiles into Japanese airspace earlier this year, the United Nations Aviation Agency isn’t considering turning North Korea into a no fly zone.
Just about all airlines, however, are already avoiding NoKor airspace and are even re-routing their flights away from NoKor. In August of 2017, Air France, Lufthansa and Singapore airlines did exactly that. A Cathay Pacific flight saw a missile re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and blow up in mid-air.
The Director-General of the International Air Transport Association, Alexandre de Junaic, quoted that the International Civil Aviation Organization would declare a no-fly-zone over North Korea.
In September of 2017, OPSGROUP, a company that provides airlines with up to date safety regulations and guidelines, has said that Japan’s western coast is at a huge risk of encountering multiple missile re-entries.
All the airline safety and authority organizations have condemned the missile launches and seek to strengthen sanctions against North Korea for launching missiles without notice as well as posing a huge risk to commercial aircraft.
North Korea, it seems, has a large problem with the outside world because of the Juche philosophy.
However, recently, there could be a no fly zone over North Korean airspace. The Cathay Pacific airliner that saw the missile re-enter earth and blow up caused some authorities to take action and declare a no fly zone over the Hermit Kingdom. Although, technically, it already is a no fly zone because no international flights pass by and I don’t think NoKor would allow them.
The area surrounding them, on the other hand is as busy as a New York traffic jam. IATA is in talks with them to try and minimize missile fires and to announce them before they’re fired. In 2015, Russia got some flak when they fired missile from the Caspian Sea to fight ISIS militants and Russia obliged.
Will the international community be successful in having NoKor announce missile launches instead of launching them without warning?
Only time will tell.
References:
Despite missile tests, U.N. aviation agency has no plans to create no-fly zone around North Korea
