ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – South Korea’s arms procurement agency asked the police to investigate an Indonesian engineer suspected of stealing technology from the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet development project.
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) submitted the request after completing its initial investigation. Meanwhile, a preliminary investigation has been carried out with the South Korean government on Indonesian engineers who were sent to Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd (KAI), the manufacturer of the KF-21 which is being developed, on Wednesday, February 21 2024.
According to Yonhap, the engineer was caught trying to leave the KAI facility with a USB storage device containing data on the fighter jet, last month. The engineer has also been banned from leaving South Korea.
DAPA Minister Seok Jong-gun said his party decided to request an investigation, citing limitations in joint investigations with the Defense Counterintelligence Command and the National Intelligence Agency, compared with a full-scale joint police investigation.
He said DAPA’s request to police officials was expected to investigate stolen data, including military secrets or other technology that violates the Defense Technology Security Act.
DAPA spokesperson Choi Kyung-ho declined to comment when asked about the initial investigation carried out on the Indonesian engineer’s personal computer. However, he noted that the investigation would likely be conducted through the police.
For your information, the fighter jet developed by Indonesia and South Korea, the KF-21 Boramae or KFX/IFX, is still facing problems in terms of paying off costs. The reason is that the Indonesian government has not paid the obligations or cost share that was mutually agreed upon.
In the cooperation contract for the manufacture of KFX/IFX, the South Korean government bears 60 percent of the financing and the remaining costs are shared between Indonesia and Korea Aerospace Industry (KAI) at 20 percent each. Thus, the total cost share that must be paid by the Indonesian Government is around IDR 24.8 trillion. Meanwhile, Indonesia has only paid 17 percent of its obligations and 83 percent has not been paid to date.
During the program, South Korea was forced to pay most of the cost share for the 2016-2022 period. (ATN)
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