Accidental bomb drop by South Korean fighter jets in civilian area injures 8 persons

Two South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during training on Thursday, injuring eight persons, officials said.

The MK-82 bombs released by the KF-16 fighter jets fell outside a firing range, causing civilian damage, the air force said in a statement.

The air force said it would establish a committee to investigate why the accident happened and examine the scale of the civilian damage. It said the fighter jets were taking part in the air force's joint live-firing drills with the army.

An unidentified air force official told local reporters that a pilot of one of the KF-16s put in a wrong coordinate for a bombing site. An unidentified Defence Ministry official also told reporters that more investigation was needed to find why the second KF-16 also dropped bombs on a civilian area.

The contents of the officials' briefing were shared with foreign media.

The air force apologised and expressed hopes for a speedy recovery of the injured people. It said it will actively offer compensation and take other necessary steps.

The accident happened in Pocheon, a city close to the heavily armed border with North Korea.

In a televised briefing, Pocheon Mayor Paek Young-hyun called the bombings “awful” and urged the military to halt drills in the city until it formulates reliable steps that can prevent a recurrence. He said that Pocheon, a city of 1,40,000 people, provided three major firing ranges for the South Korean and US militaries.

The military said it had decided to suspend live-fire drills in Pocheon.

Paek described Thursday's training as a joint drill with the US military. But the South Korean Defence Ministry couldn't immediately confirm that.

Pocheon's disaster response centre said six civilians and two soldiers were injured and were being treated at hospitals. Four of the injured — all civilians — were in a serious condition, the centre said. Two of the seriously injured are foreigners — one from Thailand and the other from Myanmar.

Three houses were partially damaged, a Catholic church and a greenhouse, but they did not appear to have been directly hit by the bombs, according to the Pocheon centre.