SK, Russia in arms talks

South Korea and Russia are in negotiations about the possible transfer of advanced military technology to pay off Moscow's debts dating back to the Soviet Union, media reported Tuesday.

The two countries launched the project in 1995 as Seoul tried to retrieve loans of $1.3 billion extended to the former Soviet Union in 1991, a year after they established a landmark diplomatic relationship, the Yonhap News Agency said.

"We have yet to complete negotiations with Russia," a spokesman for the South's Defense Acquisition Program Administration told AFP.

So far, Moscow has provided Seoul with arms worth $740 million to repay some $1.3 billion in debt, according to AFP.

Yonhap quoted a military source as saying that the cutting-edge technologies include long-range radar and a defense system against an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

However, a Chinese expert on Korean issues dismissed the possibility of South Korea-Russia military cooperation amid current tensions.

"It's unlikely that Russia and South Korea will engage in large-scale military cooperation, given the tensions on the Peninsula," Lü Chao, director of the Korean Research Center at China's Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, despite Moscow and Seoul having long been cooperating in some high-tech fields.

"Larger arms deals with South Korea will further strain the situation on the peninsula and put Russia's far east area in possible danger. This will definitely hurt Russia's interests," Lü added.

Separately, the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA), a South Korean think tank, said Tuesday in a report that North Korea is spending about a third of its national income on its military, a much larger amount than announced.

The North said it spent $570 million on its military in 2009, but the real amount, calculated on an exchange rate based on purchasing power parity terms, was $8.77 billion, it said.