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The Ministry of National Defense announced that Lt. Gen. Han Ki-seong, commander of the Army's 1st Corps, was removed from duty effective the 3rd, in connection with recent controversies including unloaded ammunition at the frontline and confusion over a misidentified U.S. military drone. / Army 1st Corps

The Ministry of National Defense removed Lt. Gen. Han Ki-seong, commander of the Army's 1st Corps, from duty effective the 3rd, in connection with the controversies over "unloaded ammunition at the frontline" and the "misidentified U.S. drone response."

The ministry said that day, "In connection with the review and investigation of recent issues related to the 1st Corps, the current corps commander was removed from duty effective the 3rd," adding that the Army Training and Doctrine Command commander will serve as acting commander during the period of removal. The measure is reportedly linked to the controversies that emerged in succession at the 1st Corps: the changed guard operation guidelines and the failure to properly share U.S.-Korea drone flight information.

Earlier, it came to light that the Army's 1st Corps had, since the first half of this year, changed its guard operation guidelines so that K6 heavy machine guns and K4 automatic grenade launchers at general outposts and frontline guard posts were not loaded with live ammunition, sparking controversy. On the 30th of last month, a flight plan for a U.S. Marine Corps drone participating in a joint Korea-U.S. exercise was not properly reported to higher command, leading Korean forces to mistake it for an unidentified flying object.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) released the results of its combat readiness inspection at a background briefing for defense reporters that day, saying the drone incident was found to have resulted from a combination of a communication error between Korean and U.S. working-level officials and a failure of Korea's reporting system.

According to the military, U.S. officials notified a working-level official at the Army's 1st Corps via text message on the 29th of last month about the addition of a drone mission.

The Korean official reportedly replied that there were no major restrictions, but investigators found that this was not relayed to superiors or relevant units.

A military official explained that the working-level official appears to have treated the matter as routine and therefore did not file a separate report.

The U.S. side also sent a photo of an official document related to the flight approval process, which reportedly specified a flight plan above a certain altitude. In such cases, approval from Air Force Operations Command was required, but the Korean official judged it to be a matter requiring only corps-level approval and did not file a separate report or relay the information.

However, it was also found that the U.S. side did not properly follow the official approval procedures required under regulations. Flights above and below certain altitudes require approval from Air Force Operations Command and Ground Operations Command, respectively, and must go through a formal pre-approval process rather than a same-day-prior text notification.

The JCS identified the failure of Korea's chain-of-command reporting system and the routine non-compliance with special-use airspace flight authorization procedures as the main causes. It also noted that the U.S. side fell short by not following the formal approval process.

A JCS official said, "This case confirmed the need to follow the airspace control procedures agreed between Korea and the U.S. under regulations," adding, "We plan to strengthen the airspace control coordination system going forward based on close communication between the two sides."

                                                                                                           Lee Han-sol