US military spy plane crashes in S. Korea
A US military reconnaissance plane has crashed in South Korea, the South Korean Defence Ministry said today.
“We are receiving reports that a reconnaissance plane of the US military has crashed. We have no further details yet.”
Lee Ferguson, a US military spokeswoman, said she had no information.
Media reports said three people on the ground were injured, and that an American pilot ejected safely.
“A U-2 reconnaissance plane of the US military has crashed,” a ministry spokesman said.
“We have no further details, including how many were on the plane or why it crashed.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said three people on the ground were injured by the crash, which caused fires at a one-storey house and a car repair shop.
One pilot ejected before the crash, all-news cable television station YTN reported.
The U-2 operates at an altitude of more than 70,000ft, beyond the range of most surface-to-air missiles. North Korea frequently complains that U-2 and other US military planes conduct surveillance of the country.
The US keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea, which shares the world’s most heavily militarised border with North Korea.
