A U.S. fighter jet crashed into a rice paddy in central Korea on Wednesday during a routine training mission, but its lone pilot safely ejected, a police officer said Wednesday.

The F-16 fighter jet went down in the county of Seocheon of South Chungcheong Province, about 235 kilometers south of Seoul, around noon, the officer said.

The crash came as Korean and U.S. troops are in the midst of annual joint military drills.

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. (Yonhap)