Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su issues a public apology over an accidental bombing of a civilian town in a press briefing held at the defense ministry in Seoul, March 10. Yonhap

The top Air Force commander issued a public apology Monday over the accidental bombing of a civilian village by fighter jets last week, calling it an accident that "should never have happened."

Two KF-16 fighter jets "abnormally" dropped eight MK-82 bombs outside a training range in Pocheon, some 40 kilometers Korea of Seoul, during live-fire drills on Thursday, injuring 29, including 15 civilians.

"The Air Force, which should protect the lives and property of the people, inflicted harm to the people," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Lee Young-su said in a press briefing. "It was an accident that should never have happened, and one that should not recur."

Lee took the blame for the accident, an unprecedented mistaken bombing on a civilian town, and vowed efforts to prevent such accidents going forward.

He also promised utmost efforts to help affected residents return to their daily lives and compensate them, in addition to providing medical and crisis support.

In an interim probe result released Monday, the Air Force reaffirmed pilot error as the cause of the bombing, saying the pilot of the first aircraft missed at least three opportunities to prevent the accident after wrongly entering the target coordinates.

In preventive measures, the Air Force vowed to strengthen procedures to ensure cross-checks for verifying target coordinates during live-fire drills and bolster overall safety training for all pilots.

The Air Force, which had grounded nearly all aircraft after the accidental bombing, said it plans to resume flight training in phases Monday, in conjunction with the beginning of a major springtime joint exercise between Korea and the United States.

Still, live-fire drills will only resume once preventive measures are established and relevant measures are completed, it added. (Yonhap)