Military Investment

[Anchor Lead]

It's hard to believe that the Korean military that spends 40 trillion won a year has deployed to the front line hundreds of tanks that cannot even go up a hill. The value of these tanks is zero as they cannot even be repaired.

[Pkg]

A tank shows up with a loud roar. The M-48 has been in operation for more than 40 years since being purchased in 1977. Its specification indicates a top speed on flatland of 50 kilometers per hour, but actually it can barely reach 20. Gun turrets can turn 360 degrees to fire at enemy tanks. But it turns at the rate of four to five times a minute, just half of the Korean army's main K-1 tanks. It is hard even to distinguish a target farther out than 500 meters with its night vision device. It's become impossible to even take discontinued parts from other tanks to repair them.

[Soundbite] Warrant Officer Shin Hyun-yong(Transport Maintenance Officer, Tank Battalion) : "The tanks are needed for combat mission trainings, but repairs take up a lot of the training time."

The Army reached a conclusion after analyzing the economic value of the M48 tanks. Already in 2011, the annual average maintenance cost for each M48 has exceeded its residual value, or the profit gained by repairing the tank. That means the more you use it, the more money you lose. Residual value has plunged every year to reach 0 won this year. These tanks have become worthless. The new K-2 tanks should have replaced older models, but problems with localization and engine development have delayed the decommissioning.

[Soundbite] Ahn Gyu-baek(Democratic Party) : "Old tanks can threaten the safety of soldiers, so they must be decommissioned as soon as possible and the deployment of the K-2 and other new tanks should be sped up."

The South Korean Army estimates that the loss from maintaining the M48s would amount to 160 billion won by 2020 and 300 billion won by 2030.