March 6, 2025 (EIRNS)—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 March 6, injuring 15 people, officials report.
The exercise was provocatively being carried out only 25 km from the North Korean border, and only days before a large-scale annual U.S.-South Korea military exercise, called Freedom Shield, scheduled to begin March 10. North Korea has already protested that exercise as another provocation against the North. Today’s exercise was described by the military as a “show of firepower against North Korean military threats ahead of their annual springtime Freedom Shield exercise this month.”
The MK-82 bombs released by the KF-16 fighter jets fell outside a firing range, apparently through pilot error, damaging numerous homes and a church.
The military said later today that it had decided to suspend all live-fire drills across South Korea.
