KAL and Asiana flight attendants, who finished security training to combat in-flight terrorism, will be armed with non-lethal weapons from the latter half of April 2002, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation announced Tuesday. The weapons will include tazers and tear gas guns and will be carried by one or two attendants according to the size of a plane.

The tazer fires two needle shaped electrodes connected to the hand held generator, by compressed air, that delivers a paralyzing electric shock that can cause unconsciousness. It is equipped with a laser targeting system for accuracy and is currently used by Korean special police squads, and police in the United States and Britain.

Aside from the weapons, KAL will assign two male flight attendants, who have received special security training, on all routes, while Asiana will place a similar person on long-distance routes or ones vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Both airlines have installed double locks to cockpit doors to stop terrorists from entering and are planning to replace them bulletproof doors as well as installing closed circuit TVs next to them.

(Lee Chung-il, cilee@chosun.com )