South Korea shoots at passenger jet by mistake

• Asiana Airlines aircraft was headed for Seoul's main international airport 

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean marine Corps troops fired at a commercial aircraft flying near the tense sea border with North Korea, misidentifying it as one of the communist North's jet fighters, but no damage occurred, military sources said on Saturday.

A Marine Corps spokesman said two soldiers guarding an island on the waters off the South's western city of Incheon, fired their K-2 rifles for about 10 minutes at around 4 a.m. on Friday.

The plane was later identified as a flight by South Korean carrier Asiana Airlines making its descent to Incheon International Airport, Seoul's main airport. The airport is located about 25 miles south of the inter-Korean border.

A defense ministry source said the plane, an Asiana Airlines jet carrying 119 passengers and crew on a flight from China, was undamaged as it was about 500 to 600 meters out of the range of the hand-held K-2 rifles.
The Yonhap News Agency and other local media said the soldiers believed the plane was flying north of the normal air corridor. Asiana Airlines officials told the news agency the plane never went off course.
"We checked yesterday through the air force and the airport control center to make sure there were no abnormalities such as being off course," Yonhap quoted a company official as saying.

Airline officials were not immediately available for comment.

Yonhap and other news reports quoted marine corps officers as saying soldiers will now undergo thorough training on how to identify civil aircraft. Airlines will be asked to ensure their planes do not deviate from set courses.