South Korean air force pilots charged with criminal negligence over accidental bombing
SEOUL, March 13 (UPI) -- South Korea's military on Thursday charged two air force pilots with criminal negligence over the accidental bombing of a village near the DMZ last week that injured 43 and damaged dozens of buildings, citing pilot error as the cause.
"The Defense Ministry's investigation headquarters has confirmed that the pilot's incorrect input of target coordinates was a direct cause of the accident," the ministry said in a text message to reporters.
"Accordingly, as of March 13, two pilots were criminally booked on charges of occupational negligence resulting in injury," the message said.
They were also charged for damaging military facilities, including a church, a ministry spokesman said during a press briefing Thursday.
The pilots have been suspended from performing flight missions and will be undergoing an air service qualification review, a Defense Ministry official later told reporters.
A pair of South Korean KF-16 fighter jets accidentally dropped eight MK-82 bombs on a residential area of Pocheon, located around 16 miles from the border with North Korea, during a live-fire exercise last Thursday.
The casualty count has increased from 15 on the day of the accident to 43 as of Wednesday, including 29 civilians and 14 soldiers.
The incident came ahead of the annual U.S.-South Korea Freedom Shield joint military exercise, which kicked off this week and runs through Mar. 20. The Defense Ministry has suspended all live-fire drills until the exact cause of the bombing accident is determined.
In its own interim probe released Monday, Seoul's air force said that the pilot in the first jet mistyped the bombing coordinates and skipped an initial verification procedure. The second pilot had entered the correct coordinates but followed the first jet's lead, as the training was designed as a simultaneous strike drill.
Investigators said the pilots had at least three opportunities to catch the mistake before taking off. The air force dismissed two senior officers, a colonel and a lieutenant colonel, for failing to properly oversee safety protocols.
On Monday, air force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su made a public apology, calling it an accident "that should never have happened and should never happen again."
"The air force, which should protect the lives and property of the people, inflicted harm on the people," Lee said at a press briefing.
North Korea -- which frequently condemns U.S.-South Korea joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion -- commented on the accidental bombing Wednesday, saying another such incident could spark a war.
"There is no need to explain how the situation would have developed if a bomb had been dropped towards the north a little further to cross the border of the DPRK," state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
"It is not unreasonable to imagine that an accidental spark might plunge the Korean peninsula and the region and the rest of the world into a new armed conflict," KCNA said.
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