Jokowi Orders 3 Submarines from South Korea

Liputan6.com, Jakarta President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo orders 3 new submarines from South Korea. The submarine called Chanbogo is worth US$ 250 million each. The President’s intention on purchasing these three items is in line with his ambition to empower the Indonesian naval forces.

According to Jokowi, at this very moment, Indonesia and South Korea have established mutual cooperation on constructing submarines among state-owned shipbuilders, PT PAL and Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering (DSME). Both are currently working on 3 Changbogo submarines ordered by the Indonesia President.

DSME will be the host to the development of 2 submarines ordered by Jokowi, while the other submarine will be constructed by PT PAL in Indonesia.

Although Jokowi has ordered 3 submarines from Korea, he still wants the defence industry to remain under Indonesia’s control with the technology transfer system.

With the transfer technology, Indonesia will have the same capacity to create defence products.

"We're not just submarines, but we need other ships as well. But in the defence industry, the cooperation should be monitored through transfer technology. Right now, we are working together for submarines and in the future perhaps on other sectors," said Jokowi in South Korea, Thursday (12/12/14).

During his visitation to South Korea, President Jokowi held a meeting with the South Korean President Park Geun-hye. In the meeting, South Korea requests for further and more enhanced cooperation in the field of maritime with Indonesia. (Akp/Ein)