PAYING KOREA DEBT WITH WEAPONS.

Russia will start deliveries of sophisticated weapons to South Korea later this year to pay off part of the ex-USSR’s $1.56 billion debt to that country. A spokesman for Russia’s arms export firm Rosvooruzheniye says it will supply Korea with modern T- 80U tanks, BMP-3 armored vehicles, Metis-M anti-tank guided missiles, and Igla anti-aircraft missiles. The announcement came on the eve of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin’s visit to Seoul. (3)

The arms supplies reportedly will continue until 1998. Russia first announced in 1993 it was ready to supply South Korea with defensive weapons to pay principal and interest on soft loans extended by Seoul to Moscow in 1991.

Eastward, Ho !