Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Korea and the U.S. agree on continued cooperation in KF-X technology transfer

Korea and the U.S. held its 1st high-level Defense Technology Strategy & Cooperation Group (DTSCG) meeting in Washington D.C. on July 26, local time, at which there was an in-depth discussion on technical cooperation to improve combined Korean-U.S. defensive strength.

On July 27, the two countries announced through joint reports, “At the meeting, Korea  explained its defense technology protection policy and pending issues regarding to defense technology cooperation and the U.S. also explained traditional weapons transfer policy and principles of regional defense trade.” Also, it was noticed that both countries shared information on major diplomatic and national security policies related with defense technological and industrial cooperation.

The meeting was attended by Vice Defense Minister Hwang Inmoo; economic diplomatic coordinator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho; the U.S. Principal Deputy under the Secretary of Defense for Policy, David Shear; and the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Rose Gottemoeller served as co-chairman.

The DTSCG meeting was arranged based on an agreement made by both defense ministers at Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) last November. They had a working-level meeting last March, and this was the first time this high-level meeting was held.

At the meeting, both Korea and the U.S. agreed on the need for information exchange, and pledged to continue developing policies and holding strategic discussions about ▲technology protection ▲diplomatic policy ▲defense technology cooperation.

Particularly, it has also been reported that Korea conveyed its cooperation requirements for the domestic development of a medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (MUAV) and a Korean style combat plane (KF-X).

An MND official commented, “Korea and the U.S. agreed on continuous cooperation to engage in KF-X technology transfer. However, no decisions were made on which specific technology will be transferred.”

Korea and the U.S. reached a tentative agreement to hold the DTSCG meeting in 2017.

Meanwhile, Vice-Minister Hwang Inmoo separately made an official call to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Robert Work, and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Thomas Shannon. Vice Minister Hwang had a discussion regarding mutually beneficial measures that could be used to respond to North Korea's nuclear threats, and shared the view that this DTSCG meeting would further strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance.

By Byeong-No, Yun < trylover@dema.mil.kr >
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