Indonesia Worries About Safety Of Its Workers In Korea

Yogyakarta, April 5 (Antara) - The escalating tension in Korean Peninsula raises concern over the safety of 36,000 Indonesian migrant workers in South Korea, Chief of National Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers Abroad (BNP2TKI) Jumhur Hidayat said here on Friday. He explained the number of Indonesian workers in South Korea is the second largest after Vietnam. Most of them work in sectors such as manufacture, fishery, construction and services. "Out of 50,000 demand for workers in South Korea in 2012, Indonesia is able to send 10,500 workers. We are planning to send more workers. We hope the situation in Korean Peninsula can get better," he added. Meanwhile Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia is keeping abreast of tension on the Korean Peninsula and hopes all sides to exercise restraint to prevent it from turning into an open conflict. "The Indonesian government is, with a full sense of concern, keeping abreast of developments on the Korean Peninsula which has of late shown signs of escalating tension. Our hope is that all relevant parties can exercise restraint and if possible, pursue diplomatic communication and dialogs to create condusive situation," he said. Indonesia supports any effort to ease the tension by, among other things, facilitating diplomatic communication and dialogs, he said. He said a total of 21 Indonesian citizens are living in North Korea and most of them are the staff and families of the Indonesian embassy. Marty said on Wednesday the government still has no plan to evacuate the Indonesian nationals in North Korea despite the escalation of tension between North and South Koreas. The escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula has no impact on North Korea`s diplomatic relations with Indonesia but on the region, he said. "It does not directly affect the bilateral relations. But admittedly, it has an impact on the East Asian region. The condition there has become increasingly uncertain following the escalation of tension on the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, we hope the situation could be restored and the region will be stable again. Next week ASEAN foreign ministers will meet to discuss it," he said.