South Korea provides aid to refugees

South Korea provides aid to refugees

JAKARTA (JP): The South Korean government will grant 120 sets
of portable electrical generators to help East Timor refugees in
East Nusa Tenggara who have decided to remain in Indonesia, South
Korean Ambassador Hong Jung-pyo said.

"It was written in the memorandum of agreement that the aid
was intended only to Indonesian citizens who are not going back
to East Timor," Hong said on Wednesday.

"I will officially hand over the generators on Monday to the
governor of East Nusa Tenggara in Atambua," Hong added.

Hong insisted that the Korean-made generators would be given
only to refugees who wished to remain in Indonesia.

According to Indonesian officials an estimated 40 percent of
some 260,000 East Timorese who fled their violence-ravaged
homeland following the Aug. 30 self-determination ballot have
chosen to stay in Indonesia.

The ambassador said that South Korean President Kim Dae-jung
and President Abdurrahman Wahid had become good friends after
their meeting on Nov. 26 in Manila on the sidelines of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) informal summit.
South Korea, China and Japan were invited to the summit.

"Our government will support the Indonesian government," Hong
said.

Along with the generators, worth some US$100,000, South Korean
citizens in Indonesia will also donate instant noodles and
clothes worth Rp 500 million ($66,700) to the refugees.

There were some 20,000 South Koreans living in Indonesia,
according to Hong.

The three dimensional, colored, ultra-sonographic device
donated to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital is a Korean-made product
with a value of $100,000. (04)