Indonesian Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Says Two Indonesian Citizens Have Been Verified In The Case Of Combat Jet Development In South Korea

KF-21 Boramae fighter jet. (Source: Defense Acquisition Program Administration via The Korea Times)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia said that there are two engineers from Indonesia who are undergoing verification regarding the alleged theft of the KF-21 fighter jet technology that is being developed by South Korea and Indonesia.

"It is true that currently there are 2 Indonesian citizens who have been verified in this case," said the spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lalu M. Iqbal in his statement, Friday, March 15.

He further said that the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul had continued to monitor and accompany the two of them, since the emergence of the case. To respect privacy, the names of the two Indonesian citizens were not disclosed, said Iqbal.

"There has been no final result or conclusion from the verification. Because it is too far to call this a case of data theft," explained Iqbal.

Separately, South Korean police continued their investigation at the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) headquarters on Friday in connection with two Indonesian citizens accused of leaking technology related to fighter jet projects, a police official said.

The two engineers were accused of violating South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Law and leaking technology related to KF-21, a South Korean-made fighter jet partially supported by Indonesia.

The inspection began on Thursday and continues on the second day, an official at the Gyeongnam Provincial Police security investigation bureau said.

The case first emerged earlier last month, when engineers sent to KAI were suspected of storing KF-21 development data on USB, according to sources in the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Defense Intelligence Counter Command (DCC).

"Investigations are currently underway to find out whether the stored data contains strategic technology," said a source familiar with the matter without naming, reported The Korea Times.

A team of investigators from the National Intelligence Agency and DCC have checked the data and banned Indonesian engineers from leaving South Korea.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month confirmed that Indonesian citizens related to this matter were not detained. Most recently, it is confirmed that Indonesian citizens are still in Seoul.

"The KF-21 project is a strategic project for both Indonesia and South Korea. The two countries will manage the various problems that arise in this collaboration as best they can," said Iqbal at the time.

Last month, DAPA requested a police investigation after completing an initial investigation with the government into engineers sent to KAI.

DAPA Minister Seok Jong-gun told reporters the agency decided to request an investigation, citing limitations in a joint investigation with the Defense Intelligence Counter Command and the National Intelligence Agency, compared to a full-scale police investigation.

With DAPA's request, police officials are expected to investigate whether the data is classified as a military secret or other technology that violates the Defense Technology Security Act.

When asked if an initial investigation was carried out on the engineer's personal computer, DAPA spokesman Choi Kyung-ho declined to comment but noted that the effort was likely to be carried out through a police investigation.