Defense Company Rafael of Israel acquires 46% of South Korean Company Pine Telecom 0211134.

Financial terms of the agreement between Rafael and Pine Telecom were not disclosed but the Israeli company said Pine Telecom would continue to operate as an independent company while collaborating with Rafael on the design, development and manufacturing of high-end communications systems for the South Korean military.

"Today's (Wednesday's) signing marks our strong faith in PineTelecom's role as a partner in the Korean market," said Yedidia Yaari, chief executive officer of Rafael.

"Our partnership will allow our companies to continue developing leading technologies and to explore new possibilities in the field of C4I."

C4I is an acronym for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence.

M.H. Yun, owner of Pine Telecom said, "This cooperation is another step forward in our efforts to grow into a system level, second-tier communication systems provider for the Korean and international defense markets, and realize the vision of becoming a leading defense industry, both domestically and internationally."