Two killed in military trainer jet crash

(ATTN: ADDS details in paras 4-5)
CHEONGJU, South Korea, June 21 (Yonhap) -- A military trainer aircraft crashed in central South Korea Tuesday during a routine training mission, killing the two airmen aboard, officials said.
The jet hit a rice paddy near the Air Force Academy in Cheongwon of North Chungcheong Province, about 120 kilometers south of Seoul, around 1:30 p.m., they said.
"The Air Force is investigating the cause of the crash," an Air Force official said.



The training aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from a runaway at an air base near the Air Force Academy, the official said.
The pilots were 2nd Lt. Lee Min-woo and his flying instructor Nam Kwan-woo, according to the official.
The single-engine, propeller-driven Ilyushin II-103 aircraft, called the T-103 in South Korea, is a primary trainer for the South's Air Force.
The aircraft was developed by the former Soviet Union in 1990 and is now produced in Russia.