S. Korea hands over retired jets to Peru

SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will offer eight retired ground attack
aircrafts free to Peru as part of efforts to boost defense and arms procurement
exchanges with Central and South American nations, defense officials here said
Thursday.
Peru has been showing interest in buying South Korea's aged A-37B Dragonfly jets
since 2008, which the Korean Air Force grounded due to maintenance budget
constraints, according to South Korea's defense ministry.
"Upon this handover, we plan to ask for Peru's interest in South Korean arms
makers as it seeks to replace its air defense and other weapons," said Kim
Yoon-suk, head of the international war supplies cooperation bureau in Seoul's
defense ministry.
The handover ceremony was to be held later Thursday (Peru time) at Peru's Las
Palmas Air Base, near its capital Lima.
The Cessna A-37B Dragonfly is a development of the Cessna T-37 aircraft
originally designed in 1952 as a trainer for the U.S. air force and was used
mainly in the Vietnam War as a ground attacker.
South Korea purchased the A-37B aircrafts from the United States during the
1970s. The Korean Air Force disposed all its 20 A-37B jets, which were used
mainly for acrobatic flight training, in October 2007.
South Korea and Peru established diplomatic ties in 1963.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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