SEOUL: South Korea and Indonesia signed an agreement cutting down Indonesia's contribution in a South Korea-developed fighter jet project to about 600 billion won (US$439 million), South Korea's defence procurement agency said on Friday (June 13).

South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said in a statement that DAPA and Indonesia's defence ministry officials signed an agreement this week concerning the KF-21 jet (pic) development project.

Indonesia's defence ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

A decade ago, South Korea and Indonesia agreed to jointly develop the jet in a project worth 8.1 trillion won, with Jakarta agreeing to pay about 1.6 trillion won.

However, Jakarta has since sought to renegotiate the deal, and last August Seoul decided to lower Jakarta's financial commitment to 600 billion won, as well as to make adjustments to its technology transfer plan, according to DAPA.

Although the two countries agreed on the amount, additional discussions are needed on the payment deadline and the specific scope of tech transfer, Yonhap news agency said.

Indonesia's defence ministry told DAPA it is undergoing administrative process to pay its remaining contribution to the KF-21 project, DAPA said.

"If the contributions are paid as planned, we expect the defence cooperation between the two countries will gain momentum again," the agency said. - Reuters