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U.S. Worries About Growing ROK Arms Exports
Rumors were circulating recently in the Korean military and defense industry that U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating Korea's weapons production and exports. "The rumors said that CIA and FBI agents have arrived and are investigating the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and defense firms to find out whether Korea has developed and exported weapons based on stolen U.S. military technologies," a government official said Thursday. "But our own probe into these rumors found no investigation of DAPA or defense firms by any U.S. agencies." The rumors began circulating after an unusual joint Korea-U.S. investigation in September of suspicions that Korea illegally disassembled the Tiger Eye, a key component of the cutting-edge U.S.-made F-15K fighter jet equipment for low-altitude night penetration attacks. In early June, U.S. officials raised suspicions that the seal of one box which the Air Force had sent to the U.S. for maintenance showed evidence of having been broken, disassembled and put back together again. But a weeklong joint investigation in September failed to find proof that Korea had disassembled the Tiger Eye. Afterwards, there was talk that the U.S. was probing whether Korea had stolen U.S. technologies, because it was very sensitive to Korean exports of the T-50 supersonic jet trainers and missiles. A military source said, "It's true that the U.S. is responding sensitively to the increase in our arms exports and that it's holding our exports of weapons made with U.S. technological assistance strongly in check. But it would make no sense for the FBI, a U.S. agency tasked with investigating internal U.S. issues, to conduct an investigation here." Posted by: Steve White 2011-11-21 |
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