North Korea GPS Jamming Systems Can Cause 100km Deadspots

Bad news if you were planning to strap on a Garmin Forerunner 410 and head out for a quick jog around North Korea: it looks like the GPS watch won't be able to track your location while you're there.  According to Kim Tae-young, South Korea's defense minister, their surly northern cousins are rolling out GPS jammers capable of knocking out positioning signals in 50-100 kilometer radius.

The devices can be vehicle-mounted, apparently, and were imported into North Korea rather than being developed there.  Kim says the South Korean government is blaming the technology for malfunctioning GPS in late August, though because each incident lasted only around ten minutes, they were unable to pinpoint the source.  In retaliation, South Korean plans to launch a propaganda war involving huge speakers, electronic message boards, AM/FM radios being dropped into North Korean towns and a massive leaflet dump to inform citizens there of recent naval incidents.

[via GPS Tracklog]