Report: Ashton Carter says 'no' to South Korea fighter jet request

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Ashton Carter turned down a South Korea request for the transfer of key U.S. technologies needed for Seoul's homegrown fighter jets.

In a meeting at the Pentagon with his South Korea counterpart Han Min-koo, the U.S. defense secretary said it would be "difficult" to transfer four types of fighter jet technology to Seoul. Yonhap reported Carter instead suggested ways of cooperating with South Korea on the 21 other types of technologies that could be transferable.

A South Korean defense ministry official said Seoul had requested a transfer of aerial refueling technology in its application to the U.S. government, and Han pledged on Thursday South Korea would not transfer the four types of technology to third-party countries.

Carter's response was the first since Seoul sent a letter requesting cooperation and transfer of technology in August. South Korean newspaper Maeil Business reported troubles with the Korean Fighter Experimental project began in April, when Seoul learned the United States bans the transfer of strategically valuable defense technology under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR.

The United States had barred U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin from sharing four key technologies: an active electronically scanned array, an infra-red search and track system, a radio frequency jammer and an electro-optical target tracking device.

The meeting on Thursday marked the third time Carter met with Han. The two had previously met in South Korea in April, and again at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, in May.

During their discussions at the Pentagon, the two defense officials agreed to respond strongly to any North Korea provocations, and to deepen cooperation on U.S.-South Korea alliance issues at the upcoming 47th Korea-U.S. Security Consultative Meeting in Seoul in November.