A small South Korean military drone crashed in a park in Gimpo, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday morning during a training exercise, the Army said, prompting an investigation into the cause.
The unmanned aerial vehicle, operated by an Army unit based in Gimpo, lost contact during the training flight before coming down in a park near the training site in Unyang-dong. A local resident alerted the military, which secured the site and retrieved the wreckage.
No injuries and no damage to civilian property have been reported. The drone’s fuselage had reportedly broken into two pieces, with debris scattered nearby.
Army rules out North Korean link
Army spokesperson Capt. Bae Seok-jin told a defence ministry briefing on Tuesday that the aircraft went down following a suspected communication failure.
“No casualties or civilian damage have been reported, other than the damage to the aircraft itself,” Bae said. “The military is currently investigating the exact circumstances and cause of the incident.”
The Army said it was examining whether the domestically built Remoeye reconnaissance drone flew beyond communications range or suffered a mechanical defect. Bae said there was no suspected cause at this stage.
Early reports had described only an object believed to be a drone, and Gimpo city officials said military authorities were examining whether it could be linked to North Korea. The Army later confirmed the aircraft was its own and dismissed that speculation.
“It was an accident that occurred during a training exercise,” Bae said. “The area where the incident took place has no connection to North Korea.”
Latest in a series of military drone incidents
The crash is the latest in a series of South Korean military drone incidents this year, in which unmanned aircraft have come down during training.
The Army has not said when the investigation will conclude or whether training flights with the same type of drone will be suspended while it is under way. It said the wreckage had been recovered and the circumstances were being examined.
Gimpo sits just west of Seoul, close to the border with North Korea, which is why any unidentified object falling in the area initially draws close attention from the authorities.
