Imprecise use of words

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