RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Yonhap) -- Peru's president strongly hinted Wednesday that the South American nation is close to announcing a deal to buy South Korean trainer jets, according to a South Korean official.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala told South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during a meeting in Brazil that Peru will make a decision on the trainer jet project this week. Humala requested the pull-aside meeting during a U.N. conference and raised the topic first, a South Korean presidential official said on condition of anonymity.
Humala also told Lee that Peru hopes South Korean firms will also participate in energy and infrastructure projects in the country and promised his government would provide every possible support for them.
South Korea has been in talks with Peru to sell 20 KT-1 single-engine, turboprop trainer jets, worth about US$200 million, since early last year.
Humala made similar positive remarks during a visit to Seoul in May, saying there has been "significant progress" in the trainer jet negotiations, and that Peru has a "keen interest" in boosting cooperation with South Korea in the field of defense and weapons development.
Humala was thought to have asked for a meeting with Lee as he missed a telephone call that Lee made earlier this month to discuss the helicopter crash in Peru that claimed the lives of eight South Koreans. Humala was on a trip to a foreign country at the time.
Lee told Humala that he hopes the two countries will get over the tragic crash and boost cooperation.
Humala said in response that he fully agrees to the view and that the country has provided every possible support for the victims and their families.