High oil prices push NKorea to ground military aircraft - report |
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Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:06
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SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - High oil prices have forced energy-starved North Korea to ground its fleet of hundreds of military transport aircraft capable of carrying troops deep into South Korea, Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.The communist state recently grounded its AN-2 light transport planes, Yonhap said, quoting unidentified military sources.Chronic energy shortages had already compelled North Korea to drastically reduce training sorties by its air force.The North has some 300 AN-2 single-engine biplanes which were introduced in late 1940s by then Soviet Union.Despite their age, the durable aircraft provoke security fears in the South as they can avoid radar by flying low, carrying about 12 fully-armed troops each.'AN-2s have been grounded for a long while now as limited fuel supplies assigned for AN-2s are being diverted to other training purposes,' a military source was quoted as telling Yonhap.North Korea relies on outside aid for most of its energy need, mostly from its ally China.The two Koreas are still technically at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.North Korea has received 100,000 tonnes of fuel under a six-nation deal agreed in February.It agreed to disable its nuclear weapons programmes in return for one million tonnes of heavy fuel or equivalent energy aid.afp/msmsCOPYRIGHTCopyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
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