South Korean military investigators charged two Air Force pilots on Thursday of criminal negligence on an accidental bombing of a village last week during a training exercise, which injured at least 29 people and caused many material damage.
Investigators from the Ministry of Defense confirmed that pilot errors when they concluded contact details in plane systems were “direct factors” behind the accidental attack, the ministry’s criminal investigation said in a statement.
A video on the social networks verified by Reuters, which corresponded to the scene with existing satellite images and comparing the frame to its own image of the consequences, shows an explosion after an Air Force jet has laughed by pocket bombs, which houses around 160,000 residents, injuring at least 15 people.
The pilots were accused of criminal negligence causing bodily lesions, said the command, adding that the investigation into the incident is underway.
Eight unsupported air bombs were launched from two fighter planes and landed in a pocket village near the border with North Korea during living shooting exercises.
Several pocket zones and neighboring regions have training grounds used by South Korean and American soldiers.
Residents have complained for years of potential security risks and disturbances in the mobilization of military units in the region.
The two pilots were withdrawn from flight rights and an examination of their flight mission certification was provided, said a ministry official.
The Air Force chief of staff apologized for the accident and undertook to examine the mission procedures to prevent similar incidents.
North Korea, which regularly denounces military exercises by the South Korean and American soldiers, said that the accident showed the risk that the exercises will trigger an armed conflict, citing the possibility that the bombs could have fallen north of the border.
