Seoul, February 22: As North Korea proposes holding military talks with its southern neighbor, Seoul’s navy announces it will deploy more advanced aircraft near its border.
The navy said in a statement on Monday the warplanes are eight refurbished P-3CK aircraft from the US.
South Korea already has eight P-3C Orion aircraft built by Lockheed Martin in service.
The navy said the more advanced P-3CKs would carry better surveillance equipment and weaponry, like the Harpoon Block II air-to-ground missiles.
South Korea says the planes, which are concentrating on “the enemy’s coastal artillery units or missile launchers,” are being deployed in order to guard against any military threats from North Korea.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it received a request from the North for talks on March 2 related to the passage of people and material to a joint factory park located in the North’s border city of Kaesong.
The two Koreas have been technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean conflict that ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
——–Agencies