arms agency-Indonesia

SEOUL, Nov. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Indonesia on Wednesday discussed efforts to diversify their defense industry cooperation, including co-development of defense assets and joint arms exports to third markets, Seoul's arms agency said.

The topics were addressed during a regular bilateral meeting on defense industry cooperation in Jakarta, led by officials from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Indonesia's defense ministry, DAPA said.

"Officials discussed ways to diversify partnership models between the two countries' defense firms, including joint development, local production and joint exports to third-party markets," the arms agency said.

Both sides also reviewed the status of major ongoing defense cooperation projects and discussed follow-up steps to implement them, it added.

South Korea has been developing its indigenous KF-21 fighter jet in partnership with Indonesia under an agreement to share development costs in exchange for technology transfers to Jakarta.

But the project had hit snags as Jakarta sought to scale back its financial contribution in exchange for a reduced transfer of technology. The two sides reached a compromise last year to cut Indonesia's share of investment to 600 billion won (US$448.3 million), roughly a third of the original commitment.

"We reaffirmed Indonesia remains a strategic defense technology partner from joint research and development to production, rather than a mere buyer of military hardware," DAPA said.

Going forward, DAPA said it plans to establish regular public-private consultative channels to support exchanges and cooperation between the two countries' defense industries.

Wednesday's meeting was followed by a business-to-business exchange session, during which industry officials explored future opportunities for joint defense industry projects, according to DAPA.

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