USFK Commander Mourns Fallen Air Force Pilot

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] General Paul LaCamera, Commander of the United States Forces Korea, recently mourned the Korean Air Force pilots who died in a flight training accident.

On the 5th, the United States Forces Korea Command expressed through Facebook that Commander LaCamera extended his deepest condolences on behalf of the United Nations Command, the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and the United States Forces Korea to the families, relatives, and Air Force personnel of the four Korean Air Force pilots.

Commander LaCamera said, "On behalf of the United Nations Command, the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and the United States Forces Korea Command, as fellow military personnel, I mourn the sacrifices of those who lost their lives protecting and defending the Republic of Korea."

General LaCamera serves concurrently as the Commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command.

On the afternoon of the 1st, two KT-1 training aircraft that took off from the 3rd Training Flight Wing of the Air Force in Sacheon, Gyeongnam, collided midair approximately 6 km south of the airbase and crashed, resulting in the deaths of student pilots Captain Jeong Jong-hyeok and Captain Cha Jae-young (posthumously promoted), and flight instructors Lee Jang-hee and Jeon Yong-an.