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I have been trying to track flights from JFK to South Korea. I notice that these flights avoid North Korean Airspace and must fly over Japan using the Tokyo FIR. I thought that North Korea had opened-up its airspace to all commercial flights. If so, why are these scheduled flights being forced to go the long way to South Korea?
WHen I flew to Seoul from Dulles last year we flew over Petroprovlosk, then Japan before heading West into Seoul-Incheon. Flying back to JFK we took off fro Incheon due north, then made a 180 degree turn just before the South Korea-North Korea Border, headed south for a bit, then due east towards Japan. I too was curious when viewing the in-flight map and asked myself the same question.
I'm actually heading back over there next Wednesday, so I'll let you know whether we avoid North Korean airspace again.
Just a guess, but maybe North Korea's ATC isn't so great.
It could be that they must avoid flying over the Korean Demilitarized Zone as it might start an international incident so they avoid North Korea altogether. Gotham Spotter is absolutely correct. The route he mentions is the route flights to ICN use (0ver Kamchatka, then Japan). My uncle was a navigator for the USAF during the Korean War, thus my interest in Korean airspace. I lost contact with him as I bet that he would know the answer.