SEOUL, The state arms procurement agency on Tuesday reaffirmed its stance for Indonesia to complete its payment for their joint fighter jet development project by 2026 after a local news report said Jakarta requested pushing back the deadline by eight years. The Dong-A Ilbo earlier reported that Indonesia, which has currently racked up arrears of 1 trillion won (US$747.6 million) in the project, made the request to postpone the deadline to 2034, citing unnamed diplomatic and defense industry sources. The joint KF-21 project was launched in 2015 to develop an advanced supersonic fighter jet, with Jakarta pledging to contribute about 20 percent of its cost of 8.1 trillion won through 2026. Indonesia, however, has failed to make timely payments, contributing a total of 278.3 billion won so far. "There is no change in the stance that Indonesia has to complete payment of the KF-21 development by 2026," a Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) official said when asked about the news report. In a reg ular briefing, DAPA spokesperson Choi Kyung-ho said talks with Jakarta over the project's cost-sharing were under way but declined to provide details. The project has recently faced another setback after South Korean defense authorities made public last month a probe into an Indonesian engineer's alleged attempt to steal the jet's technologies at Korea Aerospace Industries. The probe has since been handed over to the police for a full-scale investigation. Source: Yonhap News Agency