U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Reportedly Turns Down South Korea’s Request For Transfer Of Vital Fighter Jet Technologies

In a meeting with South Korea counterpart Han Min Koo on Thursday at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said "no" to South Korea's request to transfer four types of fighter jet technology to Seoul as this move would be "difficult," reported UPI Oct. 15. Instead, Carter offered their country's cooperation through the 21 other types of technologies that are transferable.

Seoul requested for a transfer of aerial refueling technology as applied to the government of the U.S., but vowed to never transfer the four technologies to third-party countries.

According to Korea Herald on Oct. 16, the Korean Fighter Experimental project (KF-X) of South Korea that was supposed to produce 120 combat jets.

The project faced problems in April upon learning the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), which forbids the U.S. from transferring strategically valuable defense technology.

The four key technologies that the U.S. Department of State prohibited U.S.-based contractor Lockheed Martin from sharing include an infra-red search and track system, an active electronically scanned array, an electro-optical target tracking device and a radio frequency jammer.

During the meeting at the Pentagon, the defense officials of both the U.S. and South Korea vowed to actively deal with possible North Korean provocations and to strengthen their cooperation on the U.S.-South Korea alliance issues during the 47th Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul in November.

The Pentagon also confirmed that Carter and Han agreed to "establish an interagency working group to enhance cooperation on defense technology issues," and also "reaffirmed the strength of the U.S.-ROK alliance as the linchpin of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and across the Asia-Pacific region and strongly reassured both leaders of the United States' ironclad commitment to the defense of the ROK."

"The leaders discussed areas of mutual concern in the Asia-Pacific, including the challenges posed by North Korea, and the importance of continued alliance cooperation and coordination to deter and, if necessary, defend against and defeat North Korean threats," added the Pentagon.