South Korean Jet Accidentally Drops 8 Bombs Into Civilians Area
During a training exercise, one of South Korea’s fighter jets unintentionally dropped eight bombs in the wrong location, injuring civilians, the Air Force said Thursday.
“Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were abnormally released from an Air Force KF-16 aircraft, landing outside the designated firing range,” according to the Air Force.
The event happened near Pocheon, around 25 kilometers (16 miles) south of the strongly fortified border with the nuclear-armed North, at around 10:00 am (0100 GMT).
The Air Force released a statement saying, “We deeply regret the unintended release of the bombs, which resulted in civilian casualties, and wish those injured a swift recovery.”
In order to look into the situation, it claimed it has formed an accident response group and promised to “take all necessary measures, including compensation for damages.”
According to the Air Force, the military aircraft had been “participating in a joint live-fire exercise involving both the Air Force and Army.”
According to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea and the United States conducted joint live-fire exercises in Pocheon on Thursday.
According to the National Fire Agency of South Korea, the bombs were “presumed to have fallen on a village during a South Korea-US joint exercise.”
According to the report, this led to “casualties and property damage, with many displaced residents,” with three individuals suffering minor injuries and four people suffering serious injuries.
The statement said parts of two residences and one church building were destroyed.
‘Like a thunderclap’
Yonhap was informed by a local who only provided his last name, Park, that he had been watching TV at home when the tragedy occurred.
“The entire house shook as I heard a huge explosion that sounded like a thunderclap. Everything was in disarray when I stepped outside,” Park remarked.
The tragedy was felt almost a kilometer away at a senior center.
“The building was rocked by an unexpected explosion. One of our teachers was hurt and sent to the hospital when the windows broke,” the center’s director, Yu, told Yonhap.
“Fortunately, none of the seniors were hurt, but they were so frightened that we sent them all home,” they said.
One of the biggest yearly joint exercises between the security allies, the joint South Korean-US “Freedom Shield” military drills, is scheduled to start later this month.
Since the 1950–1953 War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas are still officially at war.
Tens of thousands of US soldiers are stationed in the South, partly to defend Seoul from Pyongyang.
In 2022, a South Korean Hyunmu-2 short-range ballistic missile fired in retaliation for a North Korean missile test unintentionally collided with a military golf club in the eastern Gangwon province.
No one was hurt in that incident, and the missile did not explode.
