[Anchor]Last month, a South Korean Air Force transport plane heading to Guam made an emergency landing at a Japanese air force base, prompting Japanese fighter jets to scramble in response.
KBS's investigation revealed that the incident occurred because the South Korean Air Force did not properly verify the flight path agreed upon with Japan.
Reporter Yoon Jin has the exclusive report.
[Report]
On the 13th of last month, a C-130 transport plane of the Air Force heading to Guam made an emergency landing at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.
This was due to encountering severe weather and a lack of fuel.
At the time, Japan dispatched fighter jets, claiming that the entry was unauthorized, raising concerns about communication issues between South Korea and Japan.
[Jang Dong-ha/Head of the Air Force Public Affairs Team/July 28: "Regarding the dispatch of Japanese fighter jets, we do not know the reason, and in a situation where an emergency landing was necessary, we received approval from the Japanese side and made the emergency landing..."]
However, it has been confirmed that the problem lay within the South Korean Air Force.
The transport aircraft unit requested the shortest route, which was the 'passage through Japanese airspace,' but the Air Force Headquarters and the Ministry of National Defense had agreed on a detour route 'outside Japanese airspace' with Japan.
According to the Ministry of National Defense's audit, the flight unit stated, "We said it was a passage through airspace," while the Air Force Headquarters claimed, "We heard it was a passage outside airspace," indicating conflicting statements.
They argued that there was a communication error, but there was a more serious issue.
The flight unit took off without confirming the 'final approval route,' which is a necessary process before the flight, and also failed to verify that they did not have the 'approval number' required for passage through Japanese airspace.
[Kang Dae-sik/Member of the National Assembly Defense Committee/People Power Party: "In March, there was a civilian casualty incident due to unverified coordinates during training, and just four months later, a similar incident has occurred again. I believe thorough accountability and fundamental measures are urgently needed."]
The Air Force has entered a '100-day period of trust recovery' following a series of flight accidents, but this absurd incident nearly led to a diplomatic dispute.
This is Yoon Jin from KBS News.
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