The 27-year-old sergeant first class died while being transported to the hospital.
The soldier was from a unit based in the Cherwon border town, which lies 45 miles northeast of Seoul. Cherwon sits near the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified area that separates South Korea and North Korea.
"An unidentified explosion took place during the drill, injuring some people," a South Korean Army official confirmed to the Yonhap news agency. The accident is still being investigated.
The official explained that the explosion occurred during a training session, when one of 10 self-propelled K-9 Thunder howitzers was engulfed in flames, injuring the soldiers who were operating it at the time.
There were no American soldiers involved.
This incident comes as South Korea prepares to engage in the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises with the US starting August 21. North Korea sees these joint exercises as dress rehearsals for invasion: because the Korean War ended in an armistice instead of a permanent peace treaty, Pyongyang and Seoul have technically been at war since 1950.
South Korea maintains the practice of conscription so that it can maintain large numbers of trained troops in case they’re ever needed.
On Friday, the North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun, organ of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, warned Seoul that it must sever its relationship with the US if it ever hopes to improve ties with Pyongyang.
