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South Korea to Buy German Patriot Missiles
The South Korean Defense Ministry is expected to buy secondhand, German-made Patriot missile interceptors instead of more modern and expensive Patriots from the United States, the Korea Herald reported today (see GSN, July 5). Klaus von Sperber, director of the German Defense Ministry’s international armament bureau, met with South Korea Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung and other ministry officials in Seoul yesterday to discuss the purchase, the Herald reported. “The purpose of Sperber's visit is a consultation regarding surplus German Patriot missiles,” the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. South Korea plans to spend $1 billion on 48 Patriot missiles to improve defenses against a potential North Korean missile attack. The missile defense program is scheduled to begin in late 2006, according to the Herald. However, some politicians and civil liberties groups in South Korea have criticized the plan, claiming the costs is too high and that South Korea will be seen as complicit in U.S. plans to establish a global missile defense network (Joo Sang-min, Korea Herald, July 14). South Korea, as recently as last week, had not made a decision if the missiles would be purchased from Germany or the United States, Agency France-Presse reported yesterday. The Patriot missiles would replace 40-year old Nike missile used in South Korea today. The United States last year deployed Patriot missiles to South Korea to protect U.S. troops stationed there. Military experts have warned that North Korea’s non-nuclear missile development poses a grave threat to the security of the Korean peninsula, according to AFP (AFP/DefenseNews.com, July 13).
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