Seoul May Scrap Plan To Buy Patriot After Talks Collapse

MISSILE NEWS

With a Patriot ground-to-air missile seen behind, a child waves a US flag to see off US President George W. Bush during a ceremony at a US air base in Osan, South Korea, 21 February 2001. Bush is on his way to Beijing for his last leg of his three Asian nations tour. The ceremony was attended by 7,000 soldiers and families. AFP Photo by Kim Jae-Hwan

Seoul (AFP) Apr 26, 2002
South Korea may scrap its 1.5 billion dollar project to buy Patriot missiles after talks with the provider, Raytheon Corp., collapsed in February, the defense ministry here said Friday.

"Talks between the defense ministry and Raytheon broke down in February because of differences over how the payment should be made," an official of the ministry's public affairs office said.

"The ministry will hold meetings of procurement officials at an early date to decide whether to scrap the purchase plan or revive it," he told AFP.

The government had planned to buy 48 Patriot Advance Capability 3 (PAC-3) missile units by 2011 at a cost of 1.51 billion dollars.

But it had failed to reach an accord with Raytheon over the payment period.

Raythoen insisted 99 percent of the total payment must be made within the first six years of the 10-year period, beginning this year, while the government wanted to make payment later.

Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified defense ministry official as saying there was little hope of the project being revived as Raytheon's stance was unlikely to change.

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NUKEWARS

Korean Peninsula Heading For New Nuclear Crisis: Minister

Seoul - Mar 29, 2002
A senior South Korean minister on Friday warned that there could be a new crisis this year over rival North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons program.

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