SEOUL GIVES UP BID TO PURCHASE U.S. SURVEILLANCE PLANES.

SEOUL, May 1 Asia Pulse - South Korea may drop its plan to purchase high-tech U.S. surveillance planes because of budget constraints as the new Lee Myung-bak administration is focusing on cutting down government expenses, sources here said Wednesday.

The move comes amid what the sources called "positive considerations" by the U.S. to sell Global Hawks to South Korea.

Seoul had been asking Washington since 2005 and repeated the request as recently as in January to sell it four of the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, currently each priced at around US$50 million, but the U.S. had, until now, shown a lukewarm attitude as the aircraft is closely guarded from foreign sales under the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which restricts any overseas transfer of sensitive materials.

Global Hawk, said to be capable of detecting moving targets within a 100-kilometer radius with a flying time of 36 hours after each takeoff, was originally sought by Seoul, which fears a possible intelligence blank following the disbanding of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command. The U.S.-led command is to be dismantled immediately after Seoul retakes wartime operational control of its troops from Washington in 2012.

"The United States is considering the request and it is moving forward," a U.S. source in South Korea told Yonhap News Agency, asking not to be identified because of his lack of authorization to comment on the issue.

Washington is expected to reach a decision before the end of the year, the source said.

Seoul, however, has apparently decided to drop the multi-million won project at least for now, the sources said.