Police officers stand near a damaged building after bombs fell outside the shooting range during joint live-fire exercises in Pocheon, the ROK, March 6, 2025. [Photo/Agencies]
SEOUL-- Fifteen people were injured Thursday after fighter jets mistakenly dropped bombs on the Republic of Korea's civilian area during live-fire drills.
Two KF-16 fighter jets dropped four respective air-to-surface bombs by mistake outside a live-fire range in Pocheon, some 40 km north of Seoul, at about 10:04 am local time (0104 GMT), according to the defense ministry.
The misguided bombing came from pilot errors as the pilot of one fighter jet entered target coordinates wrong.
Investigation was underway for the mistaken bombing by the pilot of the other fighter jet.
The accident destroyed a church, houses and vehicles, leaving 15 people, including two soldiers and two foreigners, wounded, according to Yonhap news agency.
Two male civilians suffered serious injuries to face and shoulder that are not life-threatening.
The number of casualties could rise as more people reportedly requested treatment.
Earlier in the day, the ROK and the United States held a combined live-fire exercise in Pocheon, mobilizing more than 160 pieces of military hardware such as tanks, self-propelled howitzers, helicopters and fighter jets.
The ROK military decided to suspend all live-fire drills until the exact cause of the accident is identified.
Pocheon Mayor Baek Young-hyun told reporters at the scene that all military exercises should be stopped, urging the government and the military to take follow-up measures that can relieve anxiety among people.
The accident came ahead of the scheduled joint military exercise between the ROK and the United States later this month.
The ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the combined forces of the ROK and the United States will conduct an annual springtime war game, called Freedom Shield (FS), from March 10 to March 20.
Seoul and Washington have insisted that the joint drill is defensive in nature, but the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has denounced it as a dress rehearsal for a northward invasion.
People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), a ROK civic group, said in a statement that it would be dangerous and careless to stage large-scale war exercises in inter-Korean border areas.
The PSPD urged the ROK and the United States to immediately call off the scheduled military exercise or reduce the scale of dangerous maneuvering and live-fire drills drastically.
