Asiana Airlines Flight 324

The incident of South Korean soldiers mistakenly firing on an airliner occurred on 17 June 2011. It arose when Republic of Korea Marine Corps troops stationed on Gyodong Island, Incheon, only 2 kilometres from the Northern Limit Line, mistook an Asiana Airlines airliner flying from Chengdu, Sichuan, to Seoul's Incheon Airport for a Korean People's Army fighter and opened fire on it with K-2 rifles for nearly 10 minutes, firing 99 rounds; as it was beyond the rifles' range, the airliner was not damaged and landed normally. Afterwards, a spokesman for the Republic of Korea Armed Forces publicly confirmed this reckless mistake, and subsequently stated that the two sentries had acted according to procedure and would not be punished.

The airliner's passengers and crew were unaware of the shooting at the time. According to reports, South Korean airliners normally fly on the southern side (the South Korean side) of the airspace over the disputed maritime boundary between North and South Korea, but this aircraft's flight path was further north than usual, so it was misidentified as a North Korean warplane. Asiana Airlines said the aircraft had not deviated from its route. The military said it had asked the airline to fly the originally planned route and would strengthen sentries' training in identifying airliners. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs analysed the airliner's track and concluded that it had not deviated from its route. Asiana Airlines told reporters that it was not considering legal action for the time being.

A South Korean Ministry of National Defense official said that the incident had been investigated and the investigation had concluded that it was an isolated case with no "particular problem", so it would not be made public.