North Korea denies jamming GPS signals

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PYONGYANG, North Korea, May 18 (UPI) -- North Korea Friday denied South Korea's claim that Pyongyang had jammed satellite navigation systems, affecting hundreds of commercial flights and ships.

South Korea has accused the North of disrupting Global Positioning System signals April 28-May 13 from the North's western border city of Kaesong, Yonhap News Agency reported.

North Korea called the accusation a "new farce and smear campaign."

The official Korean Central News Agency reported a spokesman for the North's Post and Telecommunications Ministry said in a statement South Korea "stuck to its inveterate bad habit of shifting the blame for the scandals committed by its clan onto compatriots."

The spokesman, who was not identified, blamed South Korea for spreading "misinformation" saying North Korea used Russian equipment to jam GPS signals and that China had influenced the North to stop jamming the signals.

The jamming attacks have affected more than 650 flights by South Korean and foreign airlines, including Korean Air, United Airlines and FedEx, but no accidents have been reported, South Korea's Transportation Ministry said.