Without information about their position, the pilots were forced to abort their mission and return to South Korea
My, what did pilots do before GPS?
Without GPS the pilots can't accurately know their current location, which is extremely important when you are near the border. If they happened to just briefly fly across the border, even on accident, it is an act of war. So instead of causing an international incident they went home.
Slashdot Mirror
Without information about their position, the pilots were forced to abort their mission and return to South Korea
My, what did pilots do before GPS?
Without GPS the pilots can't accurately know their current location, which is extremely important when you are near the border. If they happened to just briefly fly across the border, even on accident, it is an act of war. So instead of causing an international incident they went home.