The Voice of America has an interesting story on the jamming of GPS signals along the border region. The jamming signals are apparently from North Korea and rendered GPS systems in the region unusable.

This week, the South Korea Communications Commission informed lawmakers that between August 23 and 25, signals emanating from near the North Korean city of Kaesong interfered with South Korean GPS military and civilian receivers on land and at sea.

In theory, the jamming of GPS isn’t difficult. All that is required is a signal powerful enough to disrupt or override the relatively weak signals being received from space. The jamming would be local to the transmitter, so while this incident affected receivers along the border those further away would have operated normally.

As the VOA report notes, GPS is an important part of a modern military. It’s used through operations from the frontline to logistics.

The jamming comes as several nations are building their own systems. Japan recently launched the first of a planned series of three satellites that will add accuracy to navigation systems used in the country. China and the European Union are also building systems.

Full Story: VOA News