The Army said on the 17th that it has halted all individual firearms training across all units in connection with an incident on the 16th in which an elementary school student was injured by a rifle bullet tip at a playground in Daegu.
Army spokesperson Bae Seok-jin said at the Ministry of National Defense's regular briefing that "the military has suspended individual firearms training," adding, "We are investigating on the view that there is a link between the range where firing took place the previous day and the elementary school student's injury, and we are reviewing it because the (rifle's) maximum range could reach the location."
The Army plans to determine when to resume firearms training after completing inspections and risk assessments of all military firing ranges and finishing follow-up measures.
A day earlier, an elementary school student at a playground in Buk-gu, Daegu, was found to have been injured in the area below the neck by a rifle bullet tip. The student was taken to a hospital, had the embedded object removed, and returned home; the student's life is not in danger, reports said.
The playground where the incident occurred is about 1.4 kilometers from an Army firing range, and firearms training was conducted there the previous day.