No casualties were reported as the pilot ejected from jet and was soon rescued       This representational picture shows an F-16 fighter jet. — Unsplash

A US F-16 fighter jet on Monday crashed in South Korea during a training exercise with the pilot rescued after making an emergency escape, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The jet crashed into the waters after taking off from an air base in Gunsan, 178 kilometers south of Seoul," the agency reported, referring to waters in the Yellow Sea.

No casualties were reported as, according to Yonhap, the pilot ejected from the jet and was rescued.

South Korea's defence ministry declined to comment and the United States Forces Korea, which oversees American soldiers based in the South, was not immediately available to confirm the report, according to NDTV.

Previously, a USF-16 jet crashed in May in a farmland area south of Seoul while conducting a routine training exercise. There were no additional casualties from the collision, and the pilot safely ejected.

Washington, which has 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea to assist in defending it from the nuclear-armed North, is Seoul's main security ally.

Following a fatal crash that claimed the lives of eight US airmen, the US military declared last week that it was grounding its fleet of V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft in nearby Japan.