N. Koreans gun down American helicopter

WASHINGTON (AP) • North Korea gunned down an American helicopter today, killed three crewmen, captured another, and rebuffed U.S. demands for an immediate meeting on the tension-raising incident.

President .Carter said the craft apparently strayed into communist territory through navigational error. He said he wants to insure “this does not escalate into a confrontation.

The North Koreans charged the Chinook chopper had made a deep intrusion into their airspace and was armed. American officials said it was carrying construction materials. Communist representatives failed to show up at the Panmunjom truce village, although they offered to discuss the incident there on Saturday. Carter told seven senators who came to the White House that the North Koreans first fired a warning shot and the helicopter landed.

He said the Americans then “got out and inspected their helicopter, and then got into the helicopter and took off. After they took off. the North Koreans who were approaching apparently shot the helicopter down.

“We understand that two of the crew members were killed when the helicopter crashed. Another was killed in the exchange of gunfire in some way we don’t know yet. And the fourth one apparently has been captured." At Panmunjom. there was no word on the Americans* identity or the disposition of the bodies.

The United Nations command in Seoul said the helicopter flew -over North Korean territory unintentionally after it missed its landing site in the south.

"We asked the North Koreans to meet with us immediately at Panmunjom to discuss the whole incident," Carter told the senators. “We are asking them to expedite this meeting. At this time it s scheduled for Friday our time ... We are trying to move it up if we can.”

The President said the chopper was on “a routine flight from the west coast of Korea to the east coast in daylight’’ and that it apparently lost a navigational fix.

“Of course, that s a surmise.’ the President said.

White House Press Secretary Jody Powell said the helicopter was apparently hit by North Korean gunfire when it crossed the demarcation line. But he said he did not know the sort of weapons used.

The spokesman said that while the President used the term "exchange of gunfire" there was “no indication there was an exchange in the sense of American or South Korean fire directed at North Koreans."

Powell said warning shots were fired by the South Koreans just south of the DMZ to alert the Americans they were over North Korean territory.