"It is not true," Yoon Il-Young, spokesman for South Korea's defense ministry, told AFP.

Seoul's foreign ministry also strenuously denied the report which appeared in the New York Times. "I do not really understand why this inaccurate report has come out," a foreign ministry official complained.

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

The newspaper said at the weekend that South Korea was "trying to develop longer-range ballistic missiles while keeping some of the program's key aims secret from Washington."

It quoted Pentagon analysts as saying that US spy satellite photographs revealed last year that South Korea had built a rocket motor test station to secretly develop longer-range missiles.

In April, South Korea conducted a short flight test of a new missile that appeared to violate its agreements with the United States, the Times quoted American officials as saying.

South Korea's missile range is set at 180 kilometers (108 miles) by a 1970s agreement with Washington aimed at limiting missile proliferation on the Korean peninsula. But Seoul seeks to increase it to 300 kilometers.

The US report also came ahead of US-South Korean missile non-proliferation talks on the extension of South Korea's missile range in Seoul later this week.

Robert Einhorn, US assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, was due to visit Seoul from November 18-20 for talks with Song Min-Sun, head of the American Affairs Bureau of the South's foreign ministry.

The round will be the second of its kind this year: in September Einhorn and Song met in Washington to discuss the same issue.

"As to the missile test fire in April, Seoul already clarified to Washington that it was not violating the missile-range accord," another foreign ministry official said.

Seoul's defense ministry then said a single "Hyonmu" missile with a range of 180 kilometers was launched off the western coast under the supervision of the state-run Agency for Defense Development.

Local newspapers claimed that the military was testing a new missile with a range well over the ceiling of 180 kilometers.

But the ministry instantly denied the reports, stressing that the launch was aimed only at "upgrading technology." "The missile fell into waters after flying 40 kilometers (24 miles)," a ministry official told AFP then.

Seoul, however, has repeatedly insisted that Washington allow it to boost its missile range to 300 kilometers for deployment and even to 500 kilometers for scientific studies.

Some South Korean officials say Washington has already agreed and the two sides have only to iron out "technical" details on the accord.

"Washington seeks more transparency in South Korea's future developments of longer-range missiles," a Seoul official said. "That is what both sides are now trying hard to work out."

But other reports say Washington, fearing a boom in missile proliferation, is reluctant to accept Seoul's request.

Seoul says it needs to be able to target the whole of North Korea, complaining that its missiles cannot target sites further north than the capital Pyongyang.

South Korea and North Korea have been technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, but not a formal peace treaty.

Tensions on the peninsula mounted in August last year when Pyongyang test-fired a new medium-range missile, a version of which could hit parts of the United States.

In September, the US administration dissuaded North Korea from test-firing further missiles by easing decades-old sanctions against the Stalinist state in a landmark deal.

Washington has also reportedly warned that Seoul's demands for longer-range missiles could prompt a regional arms race at a time when North Korea's stability is increasingly in doubt.

Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

MILSPACE
Kompsat Arrives at Vandenberg
Redondo Beach - October 26, 1999 - The Republic of Korea has delivered the Korean Multipurpose Satellite (Kompsat) to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where launch preparations are underway. Built by the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) with support from TRW Inc., Kompsat is scheduled for launch later this year.

Asian MilSpace Issues At SpaceDaily