Korea in talks to use U.S. military GPS

South Korea is in talks with the United States to win permission to use the country's military Global Positioning System  as it moves to develop guided munitions that can better deal with Pyongyang's growing artillery threat, the government said Thursday.

The military procurement agency said it is seeking to finish the development of the new weapon system with a range of 120 kilometers by 2018, and it will use the U.S. military's GPS which is immune to jamming attempts.

The military plans to deploy the munitions against North Korea from the following year.

"The process to get (export) sales permits for the U.S.'

jam-proof GPS is complicated and requires a considerable degree of confidentiality on the Korean side," Kim Si-cheol, spokesman at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, said in a press briefing.

"Currently, the U.S. government and our side are carrying out negotiations on the matter," Kim said.

He said while the process takes time, so far the negotiations have gone smoothly.

Separately, the South Korean military is also in discussion with the U.S. to gain permission to use the U.S. GPS for its arsenal of Taurus air-to-surface missiles and Korean Global Positioning System-guided Bombs.

Overseas sales of the U.S. military GPS are subject to approval by Congress. (Yonhap)