South Korean spy plane crashes: military

SEOUL: A South Korean spy plane crashed Friday during a training flight over the South's territory, military officials said, adding the fate of the two pilots was not known.

The RF-4C reconnaissance plane came down during a flight near Jeonju, 240 kilometres (145 miles) south of Seoul, said a defence ministry spokesman.

The plane was on a "low-altitute" training flight and the cause of the accident was not yet known, he said. The air force sent a rescue helicopter and formed a team of investigators.

The plane is normally used for photographic reconnaissance along the tense border with North Korea.

The photographic reconnaissance verson of the F-4 Phantom fighter jet was produced by US aircraft maker McDonnell Douglas in 1966 and introduced into the South's air force in the late 1980s.

The South's military has been on top alert during a G20 summit of world leaders in Seoul, which ends later Friday.