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The television pictures showed footage of a shining object floating motionless in the early morning sky, suspended in midair for about ten minutes before it suddenly disappeared. While skeptics attributed the event to conventional air traffic, according to AP, South Korean Air Force officials stated that there were no scheduled military or civilian aircraft flying in the area at the time when the object was allegedly sighted. According to the published reports, South Korea had been overtaken by "UFO fever" in recent months as numerous sightings—documented by local photographers—have received widespread and prominent coverage in newspapers through-out the country. Observers in South Korea said the flying pattern of the object was identical to another unidentified flying object sighted in 1995. The same day, at 7:30 RM. PST, CNN World Report reported the "cigar shaped UFO" over Seoul. According to CNN, a number of witnesses recorded video footage of the UFO and this footage accompanied the CNN report. The incident was also reported in the United States by Reuters, making it one of the rare UFO events reported by the mainstream media. On April 9-10, 1997, an unprecedented congressional briefing occurred in Washington, D.C., to promote official and definitive disclosure regarding the reality of UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence. The briefing was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETD and represented the official start of CSETI's "Project ula tam The Project Starlight initiative was initiated in 1993 by Dr. Steven Greer, the director of CSETI, "to identify the best scientific evidence related to UFOs and Extraterrestrial Intelligence"*® and for the open public release of this information. According to Dr. Greer, since 1993 CSETI has identified more than 100 "bona-fide military, intelligence, government contractor and other government agency employees with direct, firsthand knowledge of the UFO/ET subject." Since 1993, Project Starlight team members have provided preliminary briefings of "best available evidence" for senior military leaders, senior United Nations leadership, White House staff, a sitting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, inter-national leaders, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and leaders in foreign governments, among others. However, these briefings were simply a prelude to those of April, 1997. According to Dr. Greer, the congressional briefings were necessary because CSETI had learned that the UFO subject was being "managed in a way which kept the majority of our constitutional leadership uninformed on the subject." During the April 1997 briefings, the CSETI Project Starlight team brought together nearly 20 firsthand government witnesses to UFO/ET events. According to CSETI, most of the witnesses formerly possessed top secret security clearances and testified to events that took place while they possessed those clearances. These UFO witnesses were active in the Air Force, Army, Navy, NASA, private industry, and intelligence operations from the early 1950s to the 1990s. The closed, confidential briefings took place at the Westin Hotel in Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon, and at other locations in the Washington, D.C., area. They were attended by nearly 30 congressmen or their staff representatives, VIPs from the executive branch, representatives of the Dutch embassy staff, government scientists, and representatives 15 PROJECT STARLIGHT Starlight" initiative.