"South Korea is one of the countries under consideration for ordering the submarines," Admiral Bernard Kent Sondakh told reporters.

He did not name any other countries but said that ideally Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, needed six submarines because it had three primary sea channels.

"Each should have at least two (submarines). We already have two and we're asking for four. But if you look at the financial condition of the country, even two is a heavy enough burden because the price of each submarine can reach 250-260 million dollars," the admiral said.

Sondakh said he hoped the submarine purchases could begin in 2005 or 2006 but the government had not yet made a decision to buy the craft.

"What's clear now is that the centre of our attention are the sea lines of communication," Sondakh said. "It's unimaginable for a tanker to be blown up in the extremely strategic Malacca Strait or the Singapore Strait where 90 percent of Japan's oil passes. If that were closed it would shake the world's economy."

Sondakh said all of the navy's frogmen had been deployed to the Malacca Strait and there were routine patrols of oil rigs in the area.

Tempo news magazine recently quoted Sondakh as saying Indonesia had only 117 naval vessels, less than half the number it should have.

This year the navy has begun replacing its Second World War-era troop transports which "are just waiting to sink," he said Thursday.

Indonesian officials have complained about restrictions on the use of equipment purchased from traditional suppliers like the United States.

The US administration halted most military contacts with Indonesia over the bloodshed in East Timor and says these would not be restored until soldiers were held to account for abuses.

The Indonesian air force, which like the navy complains of a shortage of equipment, recently obtained four Sukhoi jet fighters and two attack helicopters from Russia under a counter-trade deal to help diversify the country's sources of military equipment.

In July the US House of Representatives approved an amendment to deny Indonesia education and training funds until the Indonesian government cooperates with US investigators probing the ambush and killing of two US teachers in Papua province in August 2002.

Two provinces on Sumatra island recently said they want to buy their own patrol craft, which will be operated by Indonesian naval personnel.

WAR.WIRE