Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, a US-based Korean organization, condemned the United States and South Korean troops for their airstrike in Nogok-ri, Pocheon town, Gyeonggi, South Korea on March 5. The incident injured at least 30 civilians. Pocheon is only a few towns away from North Korea.

Two South Korean Air Force KF-16s reportedly dropped eight MK-82 bombs “by accidental” on the community of Nogok-ri due to wrong coordinates sent to their aircraft. The said airstrike was part of war games in preparation for larger war games under the US-South Korea Freedom Shield from March 10 to March 21.

Many houses and buildings were damaged while residents experienced extreme trauma and terror. The MK-82 bombs, made by US companies General Dynamics and McDonell Douglas, weigh 500 pounds (230 kilos). These are used to destroy structures. It creates a crater eight meters in diameter and 2.4 meters deep. Each has the same weight of bombs (although a different model) that the Armed Forces of the Philippines drops using FA-50s in mountains and fields.

“As Nogok-ri residents pick up the pieces of their lives, South Korean and US military authorities are moving ahead with Freedom Shield,” according to Nodutdol. They are set to conduct 17 joint war games, up from 10 war games in 2024, in South Korea under Freedom Shield 25.

The war games are portrayed as a “defensive exercise” but include large-scale training to strengthen the “interoperability” of US and South Korean military forces. The war games heighten tensions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and strengthen US military presence in the Asia-Pacific region against rival imperialist China.

According to Nodutdol, the US is forcing these war games without the permission of the Korean people. The games are being conducted at the height of the trial of ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The accident prompted the South Korean military to temporarily suspend the war games while conducting an investigation. Meanwhile, Pocheon mayor Baek Young-hyun maintained that no similar war games should be conducted in their town until the military ensures that similar accidents will not be repeated.

Three large military facilities, covering 12,253 acres or 49.64 square kilometers, are located in Pocheon town. Baek said they have had previous experiences where war games and training at these facilities endangered the safety and lives of residents.

Meanwhile, North Korea responded with the firing of ballistic missiles into the sea in March 10, in time with the official start of Freedom Shield 25 by the US and South Korea. The DPRK called the annual large-scale war games as “preparation for invasion”.