President Reagan’s vow to “make the skies safer” and work to ease the nuclear war threat “hanging over manklnd” puts the civilized world’s challenge in proper perspective in the wake of Soviet destruction of a South Korean jetliner over the northem Japan Sea, killing $9 persons aboard. The President also called for justice in reparations to families of those killed as he announced limited diplomatic and aviation restrictions against the Russians in his address to the nation. Meantime the Soviet Union continued its callous attitude toward the unspeakable blunder by saying the jet fighter that intercepted the Korean passenger plane “fulfilled its duty.” Then. after days of beating around the bush. it issued a statem t the day after Reagan’s speech admitting a Russian jet lighter pilot shot down the airliner. The Soviet admission came 1’usday as the U.N. Security Councll heard tape recordings of the voices of the Soviet pilot as he closed in on Korean Airlines Flight 7 and destroyed it with what U.S. officials said were two misslles. The USSR claimed the K0rean plane had strayed offcourse over Soviet airspace, did not obey a command to fly to a Soviet airfield and that Russian officers concluded it was a reconnaissance plane on a spy mission. The Soviet attitude during the entire episode serves to heighten apprehensions about our safety against nuclear weapons in possession of people who defend such irresponsible actions. President Reagan, who correctly referred to the tragedy as “the Korean airline massacre,” put at rest any thought that the Geneva arms talks would be suspended by this conmtry. “We cannot, we must not give up our effort to reduce the arsenals of destructive weapons threatening the world,” he said. Negotiations with the Soviets on intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe are resuming this week. START talks on arnns reductions will resume in October. The President used trovertible evidence” of Soviet guilt by playing tape recordings of the incident the same ones later heard by the U.N. Security Council. While demanding an apology to the world from the Soviet Union, President Reagan stressed global cooperation to make air travel safer. He showed remarkable restraint in the limited sanctions imposed against the Russians, the success of which will depend to a large extent on the cooperation of other nations. The U. S. will not renew a bilateral agreement with the Soviets for cooperation in the field of transportation “so long as they threaten the security of civil aviation.” Since 198l the Soviet airline Aeroflot has been denied the right to Hy to this country. Reagan reaffirmed that order and reported that Canada has temporarily suspended Aeroflot landing and refueling privileges. America will redouble efforts with its allies to end the flow of military strategic items to the Soviet Union, and join the 12 other countries which had citizens aboard the ill-fated airliner, in demanding restitution. The emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, requested by tlnis country along with South Korea and Japan, has bmught many strong denunciatlons of the Russian role. Of prime importance right now is the need for tighter safeguards for civilian aviation, understood and practiced by Russia as well as other nations. President Reagan revealed that commercial aircraft from the Soviet Union and Cuba have overflown sensitive U.S. military facilities on ”a number of occasions.” They were not shot down. Such a drastic step is unthinkable in this country. it should be the policy in all nations to offer help to any pilot who is lost, in distress, or whose aircraft inadvertently has strayed into restricted anrspace. The Soviet Union owes the world its cooperation in such an effort to insure that a cowardly attack on a passenger plane like this was, will never occur again.