Korea develops sniper rifle for first time

By Lee Tae-hoon

A local manufacturer has successfully developed a sniper rifle, the first of its kind to be made in Korea, officials said Thursday.

“We have completed the production of the nation’s first sniper rifle and have been testing its performance,” a senior official of S&T Daewoo said, asking to be identified only as Lee.

Insiders say the rifle, code-named XK14, has an effective range of 800 meters and exceeds U.S. defense standards. They add that the XK14 weighs 5.5 kilograms, lighter than the 6.4-kilogram MSG-90 sniper rifles that the Korean Special Forces use.

“Not only is the accuracy of the XK14 better than that of its rivals, its price will be very attractive,” another S&T official said.

The XK14 is expected to be priced at around 15 million won ($14,000), which would be half the price of the SSG-69 from Austria and the SSG-3000 from Switzerland, which are known to cost upwards of 30 million won.