Korea and Indonesia signed on Sept. 9 a memorandum of understanding to boost defense cooperation between the two countries.
During a defense talks between Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and his counterpart Purnomo Yusgiantoro in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kim actively asked Purnomo to purchase Korean “The Type 209” submarines as part of a project to import submarines.
In response, Purnomo highly praised an excellent efficiency of Korean submarines and said that Indonesia will go over acquisition process and future-oriented bilateral relations between the two countries before selecting Korea as the preferred bidder.
Based on recent development on bilateral defense industry cooperation, two defense leaders agreed to establish a joint committee on defense exchanges. Both sides signed a memorandum of understanding of setting up the committee.
Kim and Purnomo also agreed to drive forward with signing mutual logistics support and comprehensive defense cooperation agreements as early as possible.
The two exchanged ideas on measures to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation and opinions on regional security matters.
Kim made a two-day official visit to Indonesia from Sept. 8. He met Indonesian high-profile defense officials and delivered congratulatory remarks at a seminar related to improving local defense industry.
In the meantime, senior executives of Korean defense firms who accompanied Kim to Indonesia visited local state-run defense companies and met local executives as well as defense officials. They discussed ways to export more Korean arms to Indonesia and enhance defense industry ties.
“The official visit [by Kim] paved a way to leap defense ties between Korean and Indonesia to a next level,” said a defense official at the ministry in Seoul. “Korea also took advantage of this visit to secure support of our defense policies.”