South Korea and Indonesia deepen their defense and security ties beyond KF-21 Boramae

An important meeting between the South Korean and Indonesian foreign and defense ministers took place yesterday, at which bilateral relations, defense and security cooperation (not just the KF-21), and the regional situation were discussed.

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The two sides positively assessed Indonesia’s decision to resume its participation in the joint development project of the KF-21 / IF-X fighter jet, following the return of Indonesian technical personnel to Korea as a result of the meeting held by the defense ministers of the two countries in April, and decided to cooperate more deeply to achieve better results.

There were originally 114 Indonesian technicians working in Korea for the KF-21 / IF-X project, but they all returned home in March 2020 as a result of the worsening of the Covid 19 pandemic. About a hundred Indonesians are expected to return to the Korean peninsula to resume work.

However, there is still no word on the regularization of financial commitments by Indonesia, which was supposed to pay 20% of the cost of the program, but has so far only paid a quarter of that.

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According to the Yonhap News site, the summit dealt with broader issues of the bilateral relationship. For example, it was agreed to deepen cooperation on non-traditional security issues such as cyber, maritime and terrorism.

The two sides highlighted the support provided by South Korea to Indonesia through the delivery of medical supplies and cooperation in the development of vaccines and therapies between the two countries’ companies. They agreed to strengthen economic cooperation to accelerate recovery after the end of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

They also exchanged views on regional situations, such as the response to changes in the Indo-Pacific region, the South China Sea issue, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar and Afghanistan, and agreed to continue cooperation for peace and stability in the region.