Seoul, South Korea
CNN
—
South Korean fighter jets accidentally bombed homes during a live-fire drill with US forces, injuring more than two dozen people on Thursday, Seoul’s military said.
Eight MK-82 general-purpose bombs were “abnormally dropped” from two KF-16 fighter jets and landed outside the designated firing range at approximately 10:07 a.m. local time, hitting civilian infrastructure in Pocheon city, northeast of the capital Seoul, according to the South Korean Air Force.
South Korea’s defense ministry said initial findings indicated the accident was caused by a pilot inputting incorrect bombing coordinates.
An image that local media outlets said captured the aftermath of the explosions showed thick smoke billowing into the air in a rural area.
At least 29 people, including 14 soldiers, were injured in the incident, according to authorities. Among 15 injured civilians, two people were seriously wounded.
The blasts destroyed two residential buildings, part of a church, and a truck.
“The scene of the incident is chaotic, resembling a battlefield,” Pocheon Mayor Baek Young-hyun said in a televised statement.
The aircraft were participating in a joint live-fire exercise with the South Korean Army and the US military, related to the annual joint US-South Korea “Freedom Shield” military drills, the South Korean Air Force told CNN, without providing further details.
South Korea’s military said all live-fire training would be suspended from Thursday until a probe into the incident had concluded. An accident response team has been formed to investigate and the air force said it would provide compensation for damages.
The air force apologized that the “abnormal bomb release has caused civilian damage” and wished the injured a swift recovery.
Officials have not ruled out the possibility of a malfunction, an air force official told CNN.
A spokesperson for the United States Forces Korea (USFK) later said in a statement that no US Air Force aircraft were involved in the exercise. Besides the suspended live-fire training, the other planned military exercises would go ahead, and the USFK is coordinating with Korean authorities on the investigation, it said.
The Freedom Shield drills were scheduled to run from March 10 to March 20 to strengthen the US-South Korean alliance’s combined defense posture, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said earlier Thursday.
The annual drills often rile nuclear-armed North Korea, which views them as provocations. In a statement in state-run media on Friday, North Korean authorities condemned the exercises for “infringing on its sovereignty and security interests,” and warned that the US and South Korea would “pay a severe price.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the United States and South Korea of increasing tensions with their joint drills and Pyongyang often responds with bellicose threats.
In 2023, as US strategic bombers took part in joint air drills with South Korean forces, North Korea carried out a ballistic missile test, according to the South Korean military.
This story has been updated with additional information.
