SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Two South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during a joint live-fire exercise with the U.S. military on Thursday, injuring eight people, officials said.
The MK-82 bombs released by the KF-16 fighter jets fell outside a firing range, the air force said in a statement. It apologized and expressed hopes for a speedy recovery of the injured and said it would offer compensation and take other necessary steps.
The air force said the fighter jets were taking part in the one-day firing drill with the U.S. military in Pocheon, a city close to the heavily armed border with North Korea.
The air force also said a committee would investigate the accident and examine the scale of the damage inflicted.
An unidentified air force official told local reporters that a pilot of one of the KF-16s had entered wrong coordinates for a bombing site. An unidentified Defense Ministry official told reporters that further investigation was needed to determine why the second KF-16 also dropped bombs on a civilian area.
In a televised briefing, Pocheon Mayor Paek Young Hyeun 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 140,000 people, provides three major firing ranges for the South Korean and U.S. militaries.
Park Seong-sook, a 70-year-old eyewitness who was not hurt in the bombing, said she thought “a war has broken out.”
“It was such a loud sound,” she said, adding that it left her trembling with fear.
The military said later Thursday it has decided to suspend all live-fire drills across South Korea.
The accident came just before the South Korean and U.S. militaries announced they will begin large-scale annual military drills next Monday.
It's unclear how long the suspension of the live-fire training would last, but observers said it would likely be until the military determines the cause of Thursday’s accident and maps out preventative steps.
Pocheon’s disaster response department said six civilians and two soldiers were injured and were being treated at hospitals. Four of the injured — all civilians — were in serious condition, the department said. Two of the seriously injured are foreigners, one from Thailand and the other from Myanmar.
Three houses, a Catholic church and a greenhouse were partially damaged but they did not appear to have been directly hit by the bombs, according to the department.
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Associated Press video journalist Yong-ho Kim in Pocheon, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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