Seoul: North Korea used jamming equipment to
block South Korean military communication devices last week, a
report said on Sunday, amid high tension over the joint drills
between Seoul and Washington.
Yonhap news agency said strong jamming signals sent across
the border on Friday had caused minor disruptions to phones
and navigational devices using GPS (Global Positioning System)
at military units near the capital Seoul.
The signals are believed to have been sent from the
North`s military facilities in Haeju and Kaesong close to the
heavily-fortified border, it said, citing Seoul intelligence
and military officials.
"The signals were sent intermittently every five to 10
minutes... we suspect the North was testing new GPS jamming
devices imported from overseas," said an intelligence official
quoted by Yonhap.
"We are preparing systems to control and overcome such
jamming signals," it quoted another official as saying.
A defence ministry spokesman declined to comment.
South Korea`s former defence Chief Kim Tae-Young said
last year a device the North had that was capable of
disrupting guided weapons posed "a fresh security threat" to
the South.
Kim said Pyongyang was thought to have been behind the
intermittent failure of GPS receivers on naval and civilian
craft along the west coast during the joint military exercise
between the South and the US last August.
The North had modified Russian equipment to make its own
jamming devices, he said, warning the communist country was
capable of interfering with GPS reception over a distance of
up to 100 kilometres (60 miles).
The North`s GPS interrupter is believed to be effective
in preventing US and South Korean guided bombs and missiles
from hitting their target accurately.
Cross-border tension has escalated since last week when
Seoul began the regular Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military drills
with the US, which Pyongyang labelled as a rehearsal for
invasion.
The communist country, which habitually criticises joint
military manoeuvres between the two allies, threatened last
week an "all-out war" and "physical counter-action" on the
drills staged south of the border.
Inter-Korea ties have been icy since the North`s alleged
sinking of a Seoul warship that killed 46 sailors in March
2010 and the shelling of a border island that left four South
Koreans dead in November.
PTI
