US Air Force to fly unmanned surveillance drone over DMZ

South Korea and the U.S. are discussing flying the Global Hawk, a high-altitude, unmanned aerial reconnaissance surveillance drone, near the Demilitarized Zone, or the DMZ, for reconnaissance operations over North Korea.

The U.S. military daily Stars and Stripes said Tuesday that Washington is negotiating with Seoul over the drone`s flyover right over the DMZ and the Korean Peninsula.

The paper quoted U.S. Air Force officials as saying the U.S. Air Force is "very close" to flying in Korea. One official suggested that negotiations are in their final stage by saying, "The Global Hawk will likely fly over land in Korea as soon as agreements have been solidified to do that."

The newspaper also said the deployment of the Global Hawk would "provide an unprecedented view of goings-on in reclusive North Korea."

The drone can fly up to 5,500 kilometers at an altitude of 20 kilometers to conduct surveillance over 140,000 square meters of land, compared with the North Korean area of 120,000 square kilometers, above ground for 36 hours. With high-tech imaging radar and optical equipment, the drones can also identify objects as small as 30 centimeters in diameter.

Military experts say the Global Hawk can track North Korea`s movements at its nuclear facilities and missile bases and identify signs of a provocation on a real-time basis. They add that the drones will be capable of monitoring Chinese territory beyond the Yalu River.

The U.S. Air Force is expected to send to the Korean Peninsula one of its three Global Hawks deployed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. A South Korean military source said, "The Global Hawk will likely support or replace the U.S. Forces Korea`s U-2 planes in carrying out surveillance over North Korea."

Washington has also begun negotiations with Congress over Seoul`s offer to purchase four Global Hawks by 2015.

"The deployment of the Global Hawk over the DMZ and negotiations for its introduction to (South) Korea are two separate issues," said a military source in Seoul.

ysh1005@donga.com