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South Korea plans to purchase a surface-to-air missile system from a U.S. manufacturer for deployment by as early as 2008, South Korean and U.S. officials said Friday.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a statement that the U.S. manufacturer, Raytheon Co., has decided to sell a Patriot missile system worth about US$1.5 billion to South Korea.

The missile system would include transporters, tools and test equipment, as well as personnel training, according to the statement.

An official at the South Korean Embassy in Washington confirmed the statement.

"The purchase of Patriot missiles is part of our country's long-term defense improvement plan," the embassy official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"To reduce our costs, the government plans to purchase used missiles launchers from Germany and buy Patriot missiles and others to maintain the missile system and train our personnel with Raytheon Co.," the official added.

South Korea's defense procurement office, however, said the country seeks to purchase Patriot missiles from Germany.

"We are pushing to purchase Germany's leftover Patriot missile systems and purchase only ground-control equipment from the United States," the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said in a statement released Saturday in Seoul.

The plan, according to the statement, is to purchase Patriot missiles and missile launchers from Germany and purchase "from the United States only the items that Germany is not selling.

Seoul originally planned to introduce 48 PAC-III Patriot missiles, one of the most advanced of their kind, under a defense improvement project code-named SAM-X, but the statement did not specify how many or what kind of missiles would be secured in the proposed deal.

The office also denied any links between its new procurement project and Washington's widespread missile defense system in the Northeast Asian region, saying the plan is only to "replace the country's aging Nike missiles and improve its air defense capabilities."

The purchase, if made, is expected to significantly improve South Korea's defense capabilities against North Korea, which fired seven ballistic missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, on July 5.

Shortly after the North's missiles launches, the South Korean government announced a five-year plan to spend more than US$150 billion to boost the country's combat and defense capabilities.

A member of South Korea's National Assembly Defense Committee in Seoul said the new missile defense system was expected to be introduced as early as next year for actual deployment in 2008.

"I understand the new Patriot missile system would consist of a battalion-size unit," the legislator said, requesting anonymity.

The United States already maintains a battalion-size Patriot missile defense unit in South Korea, but the legislator said it was not clear whether South Korea's new missile defense system was to replace that one.

A Patriot system battalion is usually made up of three battery units, each of which carries eight missile launchers and a command center, according to military officials.

The statement by the U.S. defense agency said the Pentagon supports the proposed sale because it would significantly improve the defense capabilities of South Korea, which is an important ally of the U.S., "for moderation" in Northeast Asia.

The deal still needs congressional approval.

South Korea and North Korea officially remain in a state of war, as the fratricidal Korean War ended only with an armistice treaty.

Washington/Seoul, Sept. 30 (Yonhap News)