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\n\t\t\t\tA sign in both Korean and English warns people that they are approaching the Demilitarized Zone, April 2, 2025. (Brendan Trembath\/U.N. Command)
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South Korea has relieved the army commander responsible for the western section of the Demilitarized Zone following investigations into two recent security lapses, including a policy that left frontline weapons unloaded and a near shootdown of a U.S. Marine Corps drone.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Han Ki-sung, commander of 1st Corps, was removed from his post in connection with the \u201cinspection and investigation of recent issues,\u201d a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by text message Monday. <\/p>\n
The ministry did not elaborate on the reasons for Han\u2019s dismissal. However, it announced last week that it would carry out an on-site inspection of 1st Corps after media reports revealed that Han had ordered soldiers guarding the border to keep K6 heavy machine guns unloaded while live ammunition was stored nearby. <\/p>\n
The policy also applied to K4 automatic grenade launchers, weapons designed to engage enemy troops and light armored vehicles, the Chosun Ilbo reported Thursday. <\/p>\n
Multiple accidental firings have occurred near the DMZ in recent years, including on April 23, 2025, when a South Korean soldier fired a single round from a K6 machine gun toward North Korea. <\/p>\n
South Korean military units deployed to the border are expected to keep their weapons loaded with live ammunition, a Defense Ministry spokesman said by text message Thursday. <\/p>\n
Han revised the unit\u2019s guard procedures earlier this year without notifying the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which oversees border operations, Yonhap News Agency reported Wednesday. <\/p>\n
The ministry\u2019s review came days after South Korean forces nearly shot down a Marine Corps drone operating near the DMZ during a joint training exercise. <\/p>\n
Investigators determined that U.S. forces had notified a 1st Corps soldier by text message the day before the flight, providing the drone\u2019s route and planned altitude, the Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Rather than forwarding the information through his chain of command, the soldier replied that no flight restrictions were in place, the newspaper reported. <\/p>\n
South Korean troops later detected the drone, mistook it for a potential North Korean aircraft and prepared to engage it before determining its flight profile differed from that of known North Korean drones, the report said. <\/p>\n
The incident prompted the military to issue an emergency warning advising civilians near the border to seek shelter. <\/p>\n
The flight also required additional approval because it operated at high altitude, the newspaper reported. <\/p>\n
Lt. Gen. Kang Kwan-bum, head of the army\u2019s Training and Doctrine Command, will serve as 1st Corps\u2019 acting commander, the ministry said Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sign in both Korean and English warns people that they are approaching the Demilitarized Zone, April 2,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[53692,55889,55890,171,10260],"class_list":["post-108609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","tag-1st-corps","tag-dmz-secuity","tag-han-ki-sun","tag-korean","tag-south-korea-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}