"Migrant workers reel from accidental airstrike northeast of Seoul,"

Son Joy, a Bangladeshi worker in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, was stunned when he learned about Thursday’s accidental airstrike on a civilian area roughly an hour and a half northeast of Seoul.

Two South Korean KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly dropped eight MK-82 bombs in the city near the tense border with North Korea. The accident occurred during a live-fire drill conducted by South Korean and U.S. forces as part of preparations for their annual Freedom Shield exercise, scheduled for Monday to March 20.

"My heart aches because this could have happened to me. Who will compensate injured workers if they can no longer work?" Son, who works at a factory that produces home furnishings, said Friday. "There are many Asian migrant workers in Pocheon, especially on farms and in factories. Many of my colleagues are from the Philippines, Bangladesh and Myanmar."...

Expanding residential areas into regions once considered remote and suitable for military drills has heightened the risk of accidents.

Rev. Kim Dal-sung, head of the Migrant Workers Center in Pocheon, was shocked that the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills, which involved live bombs dropped by fighter jets, were conducted near villages inhabited by immigrants and local residents...