Imprecise use of words

We would like to comment on the usage of the word detained and refused in your article, "Hawk-100 jet fighter crashes in W. Kalimantan" of Oct. 20, page 2, in the sentence "...three units of jet engines detained in South Korea..." and "...South Korea and New Zealand had refused to repair the jet engines..."

We have received a confirmation from the Indonesian Air Force and Korean Aerospace Industry (KAI) saying that the correct facts are as follows:

1. The Indonesian Air Force has sent 3 units of Module Engine F-16 for repair/overhaul at SAMSUNG, Korea. For this purpose, the overhaul needs certain spare parts that must be ordered from the United States of America. Since the U.S. embargoes Indonesia, the repairs can't be continued because up to now SAMSUNG is still waiting for U.S. approval for the said spare parts. So, the word "detained" is contextually "not precise".

2. It's untrue that SAMSUNG "refused" to repair the engines because in fact the engines have been received by SAMSUNG, but SAMSUNG still has to "wait" for the arrival of the spare parts from the States.

3. In relation thereto, we request The Jakarta Post to be more careful in using words such as "detain" or "refuse" because the imprecise usage of words has an immense impact. We don't want the very good and close ties between Korea and Indonesia to become spoiled only because of the Post's inaccuracy in writing the article.

LIEUT. COL. (P) HA TAE-GWAN

Defense Attache

Korean Embassy - Jakarta