The government is hoping to introduce a new presidential aircraft for the next South Korean leader when the next president is inaugurated in 2008, a senior foreign ministry official said Monday.
"We're pushing for a plan to introduce a personal plane for the president with a goal of putting it into use for the next president in 2008," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The same official is accompanying Prim Minister Han Myeong-sook during her four-nation European tour.
At present, President Roh Moo-hyun flies on an outdated Boeing 737 or chartered aircraft.
"The price of a personal plane stretches to about US$100 million," the official said. "The government has yet to allocate any budget for the plan and details will be decided through consultation with the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae," he added.
If introduced, the airplane is expected to be used not only by the president but by people in the nation's three major posts of prime minister, National Assembly speaker and chief justice of the Supreme Court.
South Korea's presidential plane, or "Korean Air Force One," is a Boeing 737 aircraft capable of carrying 40 passengers. There have been calls to replace it because it is more than two decades old and unable to carry a large government delegation when the president makes state visits.
The plane has travelled 75,677 kilometers over the past seven years since former President Kim Dae-jung took office in February 1998. The aging plane compels Roh to take chartered commercial flights when he makes official state visits, a situation that does not fit with South Korea's rising status in world politics, lawmakers have said.
SOFIA, June 12 (Yonhap)
Gov't pushes to buy new presidential aircraft |
