S. Korea, Britain agree to boost cooperation in defense technology

SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Britain agreed Wednesday to enhance joint research and development in new defense technologies, the arms procurement agency said.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Britain's Defence and Security Organisation, under the Department for International Trade, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to cooperate for joint research and development in technologies that can be applied to new weapons systems.

The deal will serve as a framework when the two countries conduct joint research programs or exchange information and scientists in the defense sector, according to the agency.

"I hope this MOU will serve as an opportunity to raise the level and scope of the two countries' defense cooperation," Wang Jung-hong, the chief of the arms procurement agency, said during talks with Mark Goldsack, director of the British organization, and British Ambassador to South Korea Simon Smith in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul.

The agreement will also pave the way for increased opportunities for the South Korean defense industry to take part in global joint research programs, which have been usually reserved for the government, it said.

South Korea and Britain are set to launch a research project on traveling wave tube amplifier following the agreement. It will mark the first time for munitions companies of the two countries to jointly and directly take part in a global research program, it said.