S

outh Korea has renewed its commitment to creating a strong defense and military cooperation with Indonesia amid growing concerns surrounding the South Korean government'€™s decision to postpone the joint development of the KFX/IFX jet fighter.

The commitment was delivered by South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se during a courtesy call meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Friday.

'€œOn defense, the South Korean minister told [the President] that they had been identifying prospective nations to partner with. In South Korean weaponry production, the minister said that the country would only focus on selected partners, and during the meeting, we got the impression that Indonesia was still its priority partner,'€ Presidential spokesman for foreign affairs Teuku Faizasyah said after accompanying the President in the meeting.

The courtesy call was held on the sidelines of the sixth ministerial meeting of the Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC).

After meeting with the South Korean minister, Yudhoyono also held a collective courtesy call meeting with delegation heads of all 34 participating nations.

Faizasyah, however, said that the meeting did not specifically discuss the KFX/IFX project; a program intended to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft by 2020.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro previously said that the postponement of the project was because South Korea'€™s government was in transition. But many have suggested that South Korea'€™s new president, Park Geun-hye, supported by the parliament, had decided to reassess all defense and military cooperation plans with Indonesia entirely for financial reasons.

The project'€™s agreement was signed in 2012 when South Korea was still led by then president Lee Myung-bak.

The deal stated that Indonesia would pay for up to 20 percent of the US$5 billion development project with the remaining 80 percent to be paid by the South Korean government and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).

However, according to Faizasyah, Yun said during his meeting with Yudhoyono that there had been no change in regard to the state of the Indonesia-South Korea relationship. '€œ[Yan] reiterated that the good and robust relationship between the two countries would be a model of bilateral relations that South Korea would also implement with its other partner countries,'€ he said.

According to the Indonesian Defense Ministry, the government already spent at least US$2.7 million in 2011 and $7.3 million in 2012 on the project.

Purnomo previously said that the government would go ahead with the KFX/IFX development despite the delay.

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, told the South Korean minister that Indonesia was keen to partner with Seoul to develop its creative industry. '€œThe creative industry is not limited to small-and medium-level but also those with high-level technology. [The President'€™s] proposal was responded to in a positive manner,'€ Faizasyah said.