The article describes accidents and incidents on Korean Air and its predecessor companies Korean National Airlines and KAL (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.