Multiple injuries as Sth Korean jet accidentally bombs village

Fifteen people in a South Korean village were injured after fighter jet pilots entered the wrong co-ordinates and accidentally dropped eight 500lb bombs.

A South Korean soldier gestures near the bomb accident site in Pocheon. Picture; AFP.

A South Korean village was transformed into a “battlefield” after fighter jet pilots entered the wrong co-ordinates and accidentally dropped eight 500lb bombs.

Fifteen people were injured, three of them seriously, after the accidental bombing of Nogok, in the municipality of Pocheon, as part of joint US-South Korea military exercises close to the border with North Korea. The bombs destroyed or damaged several buildings, including homes and a Catholic church.

“The unthinkable has happened,” the mayor of Pocheon, Baek Young-hyun, told journalists. “The site of the accident where the bombs were dropped is absolute chaos and looks like an actual battlefield. I ask the government and military authorities to completely halt all military exercises from now on until they come up with measures that could reassure the people of Pocheon.”

The South Korean air force said that the eight MK-82 bombs were dropped in an “abnormal release” by two of its KF-16 fighter jets during live firing exercises. The bombs, which are designed to destroy infrastructure such as roads, buildings and bridges, were supposed to strike a firing range in the Seungjin training ground about five miles from the village. The bombs can create a crater 8 metres in diameter and 2.5 metres deep. Video from a security camera at the scene showed a large explosion in front of the church. Aerial photographs revealed houses with broken walls and roofs and rubble strewn over a wide area.

One local resident, identified only as Mr Park, told the Yonhap news agency that he had been watching television when the bombs exploded. “I suddenly heard an enormous explosion, like a thunderclap, and the whole house shook,” he said. “When I went outside, everything was in chaos.”

The director of a day centre for the elderly, named Yu, said: “An explosion shook the building. The windows shattered, and one of our teachers was injured and taken to the hospital. Fortunately, none of the senior citizens were hurt, but they were so frightened that we sent them all home.”

At least two soldiers were among the injured in the village which is about 20 miles from the North Korean border, an area with a high concentration of military facilities. According to local media, one victim had a fractured shoulder and another had a shrapnel injury to the neck. The casualties were transported to hospital by helicopter and ambulance.

The air force told local reporters that one of the pilots of the jets, which carried four bombs each, put in wrong co-ordinates for the strike target before take-off. It is unclear why the second of the pilots also bombed the village, or why they did not realise from visual observation that they were off target. The air force said: “We deeply regret the unintended release of the bombs, which resulted in civilian casualties, and wish those injured a swift recovery.”

The exercise was part of annual joint US-South Korea training known as Freedom Shield, that officially begins on Monday and lasts for 11 days.

The Times