The launch was intended as a show of power in reaction to North Korea’s Tuesday missile test, but it left South Korean citizens fearing an invasion from Pyongyang.
The South Korean military has issued an apology after a missile it launched during a joint live-fire exercise with the United States malfunctioned and crashed, sparking concern among residents of Gangneung, a coastal city.
The launch was intended to be a show of strength in reaction to North Korea’s flight of a ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday for the first time in five years.
Instead, South Koreans believed they were under attack from the North, already nervous due to Pyongyang’s increasingly aggressive nuclear tests.
The terror and bewilderment escalated as military and government officials failed to explain the explosion for several hours.
Eventually, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff announced a South Korean Hyunmoo-2 missile failed shortly after launch and crashed during a training exercise, with no injuries reported.
Social media footage depicted an orange ball of flames erupting near an air force installation, as described by internet users.
During the same exercise, the US military launched four Army Tactical Missile System missiles, and South Korea successfully launched another Hyunmoo-2.
The domestic missile is essential to South Korea’s preemptive and retaliatory strike measures against North Korea and is a variant of the Russian-designed Iskander missile that Pyongyang also possesses.
Kwon Seong-dong, a Gangneung-representing member of the ruling party, posted on Facebook that a “weapons system funded by our blood-like tax dollars” ended up posing a threat to his constituents and demanded an investigation.
The military of South Korea later stated that it was examining the cause of the missile’s “abnormal flight” and apologized for alarming locals.
In the Yellow Sea, South Korea and the United States have been conducting shooting and bombing exercises, including missile barrages.
Following yesterday’s North Korean ballistic missile test, a US aircraft carrier has been redeployed near South Korea’s east coast.
