Two pilots died after their surveillance plane crashed into a mountain in the southwest of the country during a routine training mission, the Air Force said Friday.
The RF-4C reconnaissance plane went down during a "low-altitude" training flight at around 12:30 p.m. near the rural town of Imsil, North Jeolla Province, Air Force officials said. The town is located some 260 kilometers southwest of Seoul, Yonhap reported.
Two airmen were aboard the plane, and rescuers found the remains of their bodies and uniforms at the crash site, an official said.
Friday's accident was the second such case involving the RF-4C plane in recent years. In 2008, one of the aircraft crashed, but the two pilots aboard ejected safely.
The photographic reconnaissance version of the F-4 Phantom fighter jet was produced by U.S. aircraft maker McDonnell Douglas in 1966 and introduced into the South Korean Air Force in the late 1980s.
South Korea's military has been put on its highest alert to guard a summit of leaders from the G-20 major economies this week.
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