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Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung and his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov agreed on Friday to conclude a memorandum of understanding on transfer and joint development of weapons technology. In a Moscow meeting, they also agreed to set up a hotline to swap aviation information.
¡°The MOU goes beyond the current Russian arms imports that put priority on completed products and sets as its goal joint weapons development,¡± a Defense Ministry official at the talks said. ¡°The two nations agreed to conclude the MOU by the end of the year.¡±
The official said Korea insisted further import of Russian weapons would be impossible without joint research and weapons development. The MOU among other things covers cooperation in missile and space technology.
The Korean Defense Ministry said it pushed the agreement because Russian guided anti-air missile technology was necessary to develop a K-MSAM medium-range surface-to-air missile by 2008. Korea also expressed the long-term hope of adopting technology in the fighter and bomber aircraft sectors.
The aviation hotline was based on the need to swiftly identify aircraft in an emergency, it said. Russia and Korea tried to reach an accord on defense industry cooperation when President Roh Moo-hyun visited Russia in September, but differences in opinion delayed success.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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