SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea said Monday it has developed new short-range surface-to-air missiles and will begin deploying them in December.
But it denied that it is trying to develop longer-range missiles in violation of an agreement with the United States.Seoul's Defense Ministry said the deployment of the first locally developed short-range missile -- code-named Chonma, or Pegasus -- will mark a milestone in South Korea's effort to improve its defense capability. South Korea usually relies on the United States to supply almost all of its weapons.
A news release from the ministry said the missile -- designed and developed by the state-run Agency for Defense Development -- has a six-mile range, high mobility and an advanced guidance system.
The Seoul government denied a New York Times report that it is hiding parts of its missile program from the United States.
"U.S. officials have visited every facility we have, and they have been fully informed of what we did and are doing," a Foreign Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The Times report Sunday said South Korea has shielded parts of its weapons program from the United States amid efforts to develop longer-range missiles. Quoting Pentagon officials, the report said U.S. satellite photos revealed that South Korea had built a rocket motor test station, which is used to launch longer range missiles, without notifying the United States.
The station appeared to have been built secretly as part of a larger South Korean missile program, the report said.
But the South Korean Foreign Ministry official said the test station was not new to the United States because Pentagon officials visited the facility earlier this year at the invitation of Seoul's Defense Ministry. The test station was rebuilt in a new location because of public complaints that the old facility was too close to an expanding residential area, the official said.
The Times report quoted U.S. officials as expressing concern that the South Korean missile program may provoke rival North Korea, accelerating an arms race in Northeast Asia.
The report came before Monday's scheduled resumption of talks between the United States and North Korea in Berlin. U.S. officials said the main topics of the talks include North Korea's aggressive missile program.
The United States also is scheduled to hold three days of missile nonproliferation talks with South Korea in Seoul beginning Thursday.
Under a 1979 agreement with the United States, South Korea has refrained from developing and possessing missiles with a range of more than 112 miles. That restriction was recently lifted, allowing South Korea to develop and possess missiles with a range of up to 188 miles.
South Korea now wants U.S. permission to do research and development for missiles with a range of up to 312 miles -- a distance that could put all of communist North Korea within range.
South Korea's missile capability is not fully known. But it is no secret that it has been trying to develop its own missile program to cope with increasing military threats from North Korea.
North Korea's missile program, developed from Soviet Scud technology, is believed to be far more advanced than that of South Korea. U.S. officials have identified North Korea as the world's largest missile exporter, including to Pakistan and Iran.
North Korea alarmed the region by firing a long-range missile last year that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific. The North reportedly has completed development of a more powerful missile that experts say could reach Hawaii and Alaska.