Police raids KAI amid attempted theft of KF-21 fighter jet data

A fighter jet is seen taking off from the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) runway in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang. [KOREA AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES]

Police raided aircraft manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) on Friday amid an investigation into an alleged attempt by Indonesian engineers to leak data on Korean KF-21 fighter jets.

This comes after the government joint investigation team consisting of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the Defense Forces Counterintelligence Command and the National Intelligence Service requested police support for the investigation of Indonesian engineers allegedly trying to smuggle out USB devices containing data on the KF-21.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency’s Security Investigation Department sent around 10 investigators to the KAI headquarters in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, around 9 a.m. on Friday to secure related data from the work computers of two Indonesian engineers involved in the KF-21 project.

On the previous day, the home of one of the two engineers and the KAI office were raided to secure data related to the incident.

“As the investigation is ongoing, we cannot provide any information other than that the investigation is being conducted on suspicion of violating the Defense Acquisition Program Act,” a police official said to local press.

Previously, the two engineers were first caught on Jan. 17 trying to leak data on the KF-21 fighter jets by smuggling out a USB device containing data from the KAI headquarters. They are currently prohibited from leaving Korea.

A government joint investigation team consisting of DAPA, the Defense Forces Counterintelligence Command and the National Intelligence Service first conducted an internal probe before requesting the police to investigate the case on Feb. 22.

The KF-21 is a 4.5-generation fighter jet under development by the KAI with partial funding from Indonesia.

While the initial investigation involved one Indonesian engineer in the alleged technology theft, as the police delved into the case another Indonesian engineer was found to be a suspect. Numerous written reports in Indonesian were discovered on the USB device and there is a possibility that the leak on the KF-21 was planned and deliberate.

The deepening probe into the allegations against the Indonesian engineers comes as the funding for the KF-21 project continues to be plagued by payment delays from Jakarta.

Although Indonesia initially promised to pay 20 percent of the KF-21 project's 8.8 trillion won ($6.5 billion) price tag, the country is currently in arrears by more than 1 trillion won, having only paid around 278.3 billion won thus far.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]