US, South Korea To Hold Missile Talks

Caption: Fear drives theatre missile defence program office workers run away from simulated poison gas during a monthly exercise which trains people for possible accidents, disasters or attack by North Korean troops in Seoul, 15 March, 1999. Tension on the Korean peninsula is high as the Stalinist North, facing famine and economic sanctions, last August tested a suspected ballistic missile, prompting the proposal of a regional Theatre Missile Defence system by the USA to cover Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Photo by Choo Youn-Kong - Copyright AFP

US, South Korea To Hold Missile Talks
Seoul (AFP) February 2, 2000 - The United States and South Korea will next week hold a fresh round of tricky negotiations over Seoul's bid to extend its missile range to thwart North Korea's military threat, officials said Wednesday.

The two-day talks on the effort to boost South Korea's missile range to as much as 500 kilometers (312 miles) will open in Hawaii on February 8, foreign ministry spokesman Chang Chul-Kyoon said.

"Both sides are expected to discuss non-proliferation issues, including technical points related to missiles, following their consultation talks in Seoul last November."

US assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation Robert Einhorn will lead the US team at the talks, while South Korea's chief delegate will be Song Min-Soon, head of the foreign ministry's North American affairs bureau.

"We will do our best to strike a deal during the talks," a senior Seoul non-proliferation official said, asking for anonymity.

But he refused to comment on the prospects of a breakthrough in the the difficult negotiations, which have dragged on for months amid US fears of sparking an arms race in this volatile region.

The two allies have held a series of bumpy talks over whether Seoul should be allowed to possess longer-range missiles capable of hitting targets deep inside North Korea.

In an agreement with Washington in 1972, South Korea's missile range ceiling is set at 180 kilometers, and Seoul promised to abide by US-led global rules aimed at limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction in return for the supply of US missile technology.

The United States is the leader of the Missile Technology Control Regime, aimed at stopping the spread of missiles with a range of over 300 kilometers with warheads of more than 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).

But South Korea, technically at war with North Korea, now wants to boost the range to 300 kilometers for deployment and 500 kilometers for scientific research and development.

Seoul has complained its existing missiles cannot hit any targets beyond the North Korean capital Pyongyang, falling far short of its perceived need to have North Korea's entire territory within range.

Stalinist North Korea already test-launched a medium-range Taepodong I missile over Japan in August 1998.

South Korean officials contend Washington has already agreed to extend Seoul's missile range to 300 kilometers, but not to 500 kilometers. But Washington has not issued any official comment.

Seoul officials say the bone of contention is Washington's demand that South Korea make its follow-up developments of missiles with longer ranges transparent to the United States.

They say that at the latest talks in Seoul last November, negotiators discussed "tens of technical issues closely related to transparency."

US chief delegate Einhorn said then: "We are prepared to look at the ROK's (South Korea) interests in a very sympathetic way and to try to work out a mutually satisfactory solution that conforms also with the US global non-proliferation interest."

South Korean military officials privately complain that Washington's demands violate Seoul's national security.

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