ATC Watcher, well one more try from my side too - it is irrelevant whether it was civilian or military aircraft, as correctly quoted by Russian jet pilot. It is an intruder into the airspace from a sensitive direction at the height of the Cold War. Aircraft breaking into Washington DC will be shot these days irrespectively of being a pax 747 or TU-95. The only difference there was no capital or major city but indeed there was plenty of military installations in the area, including air defence and back then it was more important than any city. I don't remember all details of KAL007 chain of events and I'm too lazy to read wiki again but I definitely remember the other KAL B707 was properly warned by the interceptor and have chosen not to follow the commands. You can never judge the actions without taking into account the background of the times.