Oops: S. Korea Fires at Passenger Jet

In a sign of how twitchy things are getting on the Korean border, South Korean troops yesterday fired at a commercial plane carrying 119 people, mistaking the Asiana Airlines jet for one belonging to North Korea's military. Fortunately, they missed entirely and the plane landed without incident. "The Marine Corps did fire, but they misidentified the plane," said an Asiana spokesman. "The plane did not suffer any damage and it landed safely."

As the AP tells it, two Marines fired their rifles at the plane as it approached Incheon International Airport, about 25 miles south of the Korean border, but the jet was out of rifle range. The incident comes as tensions simmer over a group of nine North Koreans in the South's possession; the South resolutely refuses the North's demand to return them, saying all nine are seeking to defect. The North is also furious over earlier reports that South Korean troops used Kim Jong Il's picture for target practice. (More South Korea stories.)