The South Korean military accidentally hit its air force base during a missile test last Tuesday, the Korea Times reported. The unfortunate accident caused a fire and sent the opposite of the intended message: South Korea and the United States wanted to show North Korea its readiness to respond in case of any military tension.
North Korea launched a missile test over Japan early Tuesday, prompting the United States and South Korea to respond by launching two Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms) missiles in a coordinated exercise. South Korea also launched two Hyunmoo-2 missiles, one of which failed and landed at its air force base. In fact, according to NK News, the missile fell less than a kilometer from civilian homes.
No injuries were reported, but residents in the nearby city of Gangneung reported seeing a loud explosion and a massive fire in several videos posted on social media.
The explosion worried locals that it might be an attack, and civilians did not receive any information until Wednesday morning due to a news embargo on the exercises, reported by JoongAng Daily.
South Korea’s Chiefs of Staff told the Washington Post that the missile did not explode and that the fire was simply the result of the combustion of rocket fuel.
The US also dispatched Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons (Fighting Falcons) from the 35th Fighter Squadron (Fighting Squadron) at Kunsan Air Base in response to North Korea’s missile test. The US aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan will return to the Korean peninsula despite having just left that area, in a “very rare” move that is likely to escalate tensions with North Korea, NK News reported.
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