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{{Short description|Korean-American engineer and North Korean Air Force officeraviator (1932–2022)}}
{{family name hatnote|No||lang=Korean}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
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| birth_name = No Kum-sok
| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|1|10}}
| birth_place = [[Sinhung|Shinko]], [[South Hamgyong Province|KankyōnandōKankyōnan-dō]], [[Korea under Japanese rule|ChōsenKorea, Empire of Japan]]<br /><small>(now Sinhung County, South Hamgyong Province, [[North Korea]])</small>
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|12|26|1932|1|10}}
| death_place = [[Daytona Beach, Florida]], U.S.
| nickname = "Okamura Kyoshi"
| allegiance = {{flag|North Korea|1948}} (defected)
| branch = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Korean People's Army Air Force (1997-2012).svg}} [[Korean People's Army Air Force|KPA Air Force]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Flag of the Korean People's Navy (1997–2012).svg}} [[Korean People's Navy|KPA Naval Force]]
| serviceyears = 1949–1953
| rank = [[Senior lieutenant]]
| battles = [[Korean War]]
}}
{{Infobox Korean name
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}}
 
'''Kenneth H. Rowe''' (born '''No Kum-sok'''; ({{Korean|hangul=노금석|context=north}}; January 10, 1932 – December 26, 2022)<ref name="Mig to freedom">{{cite book |author1=Rowe, Kenneth H. (No Kum-sok) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVG-v7lgRmoC |title=A MiG-15 to Freedom |author2=Osterholm, J. Roger |publisher=McFarland & Company Inc. |year=1996 |isbn=0-7864-0210-5 |access-date=2013-09-22 |archive-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824044715/https://books.google.com/books?id=IVG-v7lgRmoC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYTobit" /> was a KoreanNorth andKorean-born American engineer and aviator who served as a [[senior lieutenant]] in the [[Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force]] during the [[Korean War]].<ref name="PRI">{{Cite news|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-03-17/florida-man-escaped-north-korea-mig-15-fighter-jet|title=This Florida man escaped from North Korea in a MiG-15 fighter jet|work=Public Radio International|access-date=2018-11-04|language=en-US|archive-date=August 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823060458/https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-03-17/florida-man-escaped-north-korea-mig-15-fighter-jet|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="AFM">{{cite journal | url = http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/July%202012/0712LtNo.aspx | title = Lt. No | access-date = 2013-05-14 | last = Lowery | first = John | journal = Air Force Magazine | volume = 95 | issue = 7 | date = July 2012 | publisher = The Air Force Association | archive-date = September 16, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190916014427/http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/July%202012/0712LtNo.aspx | url-status = live }}</ref> Under colonial rule, No was required to adopt a [[Sōshi-kaimei|Japanese name]], '''Okamura Kiyoshi'''.<ref name="PRI" /> Approximately two months after the end of hostilities, he [[Defection|defected]] to [[First Republic of Korea|South Korea]] in a [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15]] aircraft, and was subsequently granted political asylum in the [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/north-korean-defector-mig-fighter-pilot-harden-116146|title=America's $100,000 Deal with a North Korean Defector|work=POLITICO Magazine|access-date=2018-11-04|language=en|archive-date=November 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105012244/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/north-korean-defector-mig-fighter-pilot-harden-116146|url-status=live}}</ref> He then adopted the English name '''Kenneth H. Rowe'''.
 
==Early life and education==
[[File:No Kum-sok, 1935.jpg|thumb|left|No as a toddler in 1935, with his father, who was a baseball player.]]
No was born on January 10, 1932 in [[Sinhung County|Shinko]], [[South Hamgyong ProvinceKankyōnan-dō]], in then-[[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese occupied]] northern Korea. Under colonial rule, NoEmpire wasof requiredJapan]] to(now adoptin aNorth [[Sōshi-kaimei|Japanese name]], '''Okamura Kyoshi'''Korea).<ref name="PRI"/>
 
His father was a baseball player for a company's team. During World War II, No supported Japan and considered becoming a [[kamikaze pilot]], but his father was adamantly against it. No's support for [[Imperial Japan]] waned and he became pro-AmericanWestern, though he had to hide histhese pro-Americanismviews due to the dangers of being recognized as being an admirer of the U.S. in northern Korea at the time.
 
InAccording earlyto 1948No, a teenage Nohe attended a speech by [[Kim Il-sung Sung]]. Thoughin early 1948 as a teenager; although No was opposed to [[Communismcommunism]], he found Kim to be a capable orator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdiFzeWCV0Y |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/OdiFzeWCV0Y| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=North Korean Defector No Kum Sok (Kenneth Rowe) & Author Blaine Harden|date=March 31, 2015 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref> However, No had to keep his anti-Communist views hidden, due to the danger of what would happen if North Korean authorities had found out about them.
 
==Career==
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===Korean War===
During the [[Korean War]], No applied to join the [[Korean People's Navy]] and was accepted after he lied in the selection test. At the naval academy, No won the favor of his history professor who later helped No in the pilot selection test. After passing the selection test, No was promoted to [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]], and brought to [[Manchuria]] for flight training. He subsequently received promotion to the rank of [[lieutenant]] and then to [[senior lieutenant]]. He flew more than 100 combat missions during the war.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20130727/former-mig-pilot-remembers-flight-to-freedom |title=Former MiG pilot remembers flight to freedom |author=Richard Conn |newspaper=[[The Daytona Beach News-Journal]] |date=2013-07-27 |access-date=December 13, 2017 |archive-date=December 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213203939/http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/20130727/former-mig-pilot-remembers-flight-to-freedom |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
===Defection===
[[File:MiG-15 at Kimpo AB Sept 1953.jpg|thumb|left|No's MiG-15 at Gimpo Airport on September 21, 1953, minutes after No's defection and arrival.]]
On the morning of September 21, 1953, No flew his [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15]] from [[Pyongyang Sunan International Airport|Sunan]] just outside [[Pyongyang]] to [[Gimpo International Airport|Kimpo Air Base]] in South Korea.<ref name="nmusaf">{{cite web | url=http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/196377/the-story-of-the-mig-15bis-on-display.aspx | work=Factsheets | title=The Story of the MiG-15 On Display | publisher=[[National Museum of the United States Air Force]] | date=2015-05-12 | access-date=2016-06-06 | archive-date=August 7, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807053725/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/MuseumExhibits/FactSheets/Display/tabid/509/Article/196377/the-story-of-the-mig-15bis-on-display.aspx | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="MiGFlug">{{cite web| url=http://www.migflug.com/jetflights/the-mig-15s-role-during-the-korean-war.html | title=The MiG-15's role during the Korean War| date=2015-03-14| access-date=2015-10-22| archive-date=September 5, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905072044/http://www.migflug.com/jetflights/the-mig-15s-role-during-the-korean-war.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The time from take-off in North Korea to landing in South Korea was 17 minutes, with the MiG reaching {{convert|1000&nbsp;|km/h (620&nbsp;|mph)|abbr=on}}.<ref name=harden113>Harden (2015), Chapter 11, Part 3</ref> During the flight, he was not chased by North Korean aircraft (as he was too far away), nor was he interdicted by American air or ground forces;<ref name=harden113/> U.S. radar near Kimpo had been shut down temporarily that morning for routine maintenance.<ref name="AFM"/> No landed the wrong way on the runway, almost hitting an [[North American F-86 Sabre|F-86 Sabre]] jet landing at the same time from the opposite direction.<ref name="MiGFlug"/><ref name=harden113/> Captain Dave William veered out of the way and exclaimed over the radio "It's a goddamn MiG!".<ref name=harden113/> Another American pilot, Captain Jim Sutton, who was circling the airport, said that if No had tried to land in the right direction, he would have been spotted and shot down.<ref name=harden113/> No taxied the MiG into a free parking spot between two Sabre jets, got out of the plane and began tearing up a picture of [[Kim Il-sung Sung]] that was placed in the cockpits of North Korean aircraft, and then threw up his arms in surrender at approaching airbase security guards.<ref name=harden113/>
 
After being taken into custody and debriefed by CIA operative "Andy Brown" (born Arseny Yankovsky, son of [[Yuri Yankovsky]]), No received a $100,000 ({{Inflation|US|100000|1953|fmt=eq}}) reward offered by [[Operation Moolah]] for being the first pilot to defect with an operational aircraft, which he said he never heard of prior to his defection.<ref name="PSYWarrior.com">{{Cite web |url=http://www.psywarrior.com/Moolah.html |title=PsyWarrior.com ''"Operation Moolah - The Plot To Steal A MIG-15"'' |access-date=2006-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903210141/http://www.psywarrior.com/Moolah.html |archive-date=2011-09-03 |url-status=live }}</ref> No explained that North Korean pilots were not allowed to listen to South Korean radio, the leaflets broadcasting the award were not dropped in Manchuria where the pilots were based, and even if they had heard about the reward, the pilots would not have understood the purchasing power of the US dollar; he said the program would have been more effective if they had offered a good job and residence in North America. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] was against paying defectors.<ref name=harden115>Harden (2015), Chapter 11, Part 5</ref>
 
There were repercussions for No's defection. According to Captain Lee Un-yong, a Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force flight instructor who defected to South Korea two years after No, General Wan-yong, the top commander of the Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force, was demoted, and five of No's air force comrades and commanders were executed.<ref name=harden114/> One of those killed was Lieutenant Kun Soo-sung, No's best friend and fellow pilot.<ref name=harden114/> No's parents would have also been punished for their son's defection, but his father was already dead (having been killed in the Korean War) and his mother had already defected to the South. The fate of No's uncle and the rest of his family remains unknown.<ref name=harden114>Harden (2015), Chapter 11, Part 4</ref>▼
 
===No's MiG-15===
[[File:MiG-15 USAF.jpg|thumb|right|No's MiG-15 on display at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]].]]
After No surrendered his aircraft, it was taken to [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]], where it was given [[USAF]] markings and [[test flight|test-flown]] by Captain H.E. Collins and Major [[Chuck Yeager]]. The MiG-15 was later shipped to [[Wright-Patterson Air Force Base]] after attemptsa U.S. offer to return it to Northits Korearightful wereowner was unsuccessfulignored.<ref name="nmusaf" /> It is currently on display at the [[National Museum of the United States Air Force]].
 
==Post-defection life==
In 1954, No emigratedimmigrated to the [[United States]], where he met Vice President [[Richard Nixon]]. After immigrating, he anglicized his name to "Kenneth H. Rowe".<ref name="Mig to freedom"/> In 1957, he was joined in the U.S. by his mother, who had defected fromto [[NorthSouth Korea]] earlier in 1951. He subsequently graduated from the [[University of Delaware]] with degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering.<ref name="AFM"/> He married an émigré from [[Kaesong|Kaesong, North Korea]]; they raised two sons and a daughter, and he became a U.S. citizen.<ref name="AFM"/> He worked as an [[aeronautical engineer]] for [[Grumman]], [[Boeing]], [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]], [[General Dynamics]], [[General Motors]], [[General Electric]], [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]], [[DuPont]], and [[Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems|Westinghouse]].<ref name="AFM"/><ref name="PSYWarrior.com"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redstaraviation.org/leadership.htm|title=Leadership|website=Red Star Aviation|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080828082600/http://www.redstaraviation.org/leadership.htm |archive-date=2008-08-28}}</ref>
 
▲There were repercussions for No's defection. AccordingIn the 1970s, according to Captain Lee Un-yong, a Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force flight instructor who defected to South Korea two years after No, General Wan-yong, the top commander of the Korean People's Army Air and Anti-Air Force, was demoted, and five of No's air force comrades and commanders were executed.<ref name=harden114/> One of those killed was Lieutenant Kun Soo-sung, No's best friend and fellow pilot.<ref name=harden114/> No's parents would have also been punished for their son's defection, but his father was already dead (having been killed in the Korean War) and his mother had already defected to the South. The fate of No's uncle and the rest of his family remains unknown.<ref name="harden114">Harden (2015), Chapter 11, Part 4</ref>
 
In 1970, he learned from a fellow defector that, as punishment for his defection, his best friend, Lieutenant Kun Soo Sung, had been executed along with four other pilots in his chain of command who were also executed by firing squad. One of the pilots and a friend in his squadron became the General of the Korean People's Army. General, [[O Kuk-ryol]], who became thea viceGeneral chairman of the National Defence Commission in 2009,and was considered by some the second most powerful man in North Korea.<ref name="AFM" /><ref name="PSYWarrior.com" />
 
In 1996, he wrote and published a book, ''A MiG-15 to Freedom'',<ref name="Mig to freedom">{{cite book| author1=Rowe, Kenneth H. (No Kum-sok)| author2=Osterholm, J. Roger | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVG-v7lgRmoC| title=A MiG-15 to Freedom | isbn=0-7864-0210-5 | publisher=McFarland & Company Inc.| year=1996 | access-date=2013-09-22}}</ref> about his defection and previous life in North Korea.<ref Rowename="Mig to freedom" /> No retired in 2000 after working 17 years as an [[aeronautical engineering]] professor at [[Embry-RiddleEmbry–Riddle Aeronautical University]].<ref name="AFM"/><ref name=pmlaa>{{cite journalweb | author=Zenobia, Keith | url=http://www.pmlaa.org/newsletters/2004-09.pdf | publisher=Pine Mountain Lakes Aviation Association Newsletter | title=Ken Rowe, a.k.a. No Kum-Sok: A MiG-15 to Freedom | date=September 2004 | volume=19 | issue=9 | page=1 | access-date=2013-09-22 | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235729/http://www.pmlaa.org/newsletters/2004-09.pdf | url-status=live }}</ref> A biography of No by [[Blaine Harden]] was published in 2015 as ''The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and The Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2015/0319/The-Great-Leader-and-the-Fighter-Pilot-presents-a-riveting-slice-of-North-Korean-history|title='The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot' presents a riveting slice of North Korean history|author=Terry Hong|date=2015-03-19|work=[[Christian Science Monitor]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912055627/https://m.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2015/0319/The-Great-Leader-and-the-Fighter-Pilot-presents-a-riveting-slice-of-North-Korean-history|archive-date=2017-09-12|access-date=2015-03-21}}</ref> Harden had interviewed No and access to newly released intelligence andabout to Nohim.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-01657-0 |title=The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |access-date=2015-03-21 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402125131/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-01657-0 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
==Personal life==
RoweNo spoke fluent English, Japanese, and Korean. He lived in [[Daytona Beach, Florida]], where he died on December 26, 2022, at the age of 90.<ref name="NYTobit">{{Cite news |last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=2023-01-05 |title=Kenneth Rowe, Who Defected From North Korea With His Jet, Dies at 90 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/world/asia/kenneth-rowe-dead.html |access-date=2023-01-06 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106011227/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/05/world/asia/kenneth-rowe-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref> RoweNo stated that he never second-guessed his decision to defect from North Korea and make a new life in America.<ref name="PRI"/>
 
At the time of his death, RoweNo was survivedsurrounded by his wife, daughter, younger son and one grandson.<ref name="NYTobit" />
 
==References==
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