VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles into the sea near Japan on Thursday, Japan’s prime minister said, fuelling tensions ahead of the Tokyo Olympics and ramping up pressure on the new Biden administration in Washington.

North Korea’s ballistic missiles are banned under United Nations Security Council Resolutions, and if the launch is confirmed it would represent a new challenge to President Joe Biden’s efforts to engage with Pyongyang, which have so far been rebuffed.

The Japanese government said the missiles flew about 450 km (280 miles) and landed outside the Japanese exclusive economic zone.

“The first launch in just less than a year represents a threat to peace and stability in Japan and the region and violates U.N. resolutions,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said in comments aired by public broadcaster NHK.

Japan is due to host its delayed and pandemic-affected Olympic Games in less than four months.

Suga said he would ensure a safe and secure Olympics and “thoroughly discuss” North Korea issues including the launches with Biden during his visit to Washington next month.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier reported at least two “unidentified projectiles” were fired into the sea between the Korean peninsula and Japan from North Korea’s South Hamgyong Province on the east coast.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies were analysing the data of the launch for additional information, the JCS said in a statement.

South Korea’s presidential Blue House will convene an emergency meeting of the national security council to discuss the launches.

U.S. officials confirmed North Korea carried out a new projectile launch, without offering details on the number or kind of projectile detected.

Japan’s coast guard warned ships against coming close to any fallen objects and asked them to provide information to the coast guard.

‘STEP UP’

Over the weekend North Korea fired two short-range cruise missiles, U.S. and South Korean officials said, but Biden played down the those tests as “business as usual” and officials in Washington said they were still open to dialogue with Pyongyang.

Even short-range ballistic missile tests would be a “step up” from the weekend test, and allow North Korea to improve its technology, send a proportionate response to U.S.-South Korea military drills, and signal to the United States that it is improving its arsenal, said Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

The test launches should not torpedo diplomatic efforts, but they are a reminder of the cost of the failure to secure a deal with Pyongyang, he said.

“Every day that passes without a deal that tries to reduce the risks posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenal is a day that it gets bigger and badder,” Narang said.

Biden’s diplomatic overtures to North Korea have gone unanswered, and Pyongyang said it would not engage until Washington dropped hostile policies, including carrying out military drills with South Korea.

The U.S. administration’s North Korea policy review is in its “final stages” and would host the national security advisers of allies Japan and South Korea next week to discuss that, senior U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and missile programs throughout 2020 in violation of U.N. sanctions dating back to 2006, helping fund them with about $300 million stolen through cyber hacks, according to independent U.N. sanctions monitors.

North Korea has not tested a nuclear weapon or its longest-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) since 2017.

In early 2018 North Korea announced a moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and ICBMs, though it says it no longer feels bound by that.

It has tested a number of new short-range missiles that can threaten South Korea and the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed there, most recently in March 2020. (Reuters)

Jakarta. The Indonesian Police's anti-terror squad, Densus 88, on Wednesday arrested a 54-year-old man suspected of raising funds for a terror outfit in Tangerang district, Banten province.

"It is true, a terror suspect, identified by his initials as AM, has been arrested," spokesperson for the Jakarta Metro Police, Senior Commissioner Pol. Yusri Yunus, confirmed in a statement issued here the same day.

AM was arrested at 7.45 a.m. local time in the Islamic Village Complex in Kelapa Dua, Tangerang, he informed.

The Densus 88 also conducted a search at the suspect's house, Yunus added.

Separately, spokesperson for the Indonesian Police, Brig.Gen Pol. Rusdi Hartono, said the suspect had been allegedly acting as a fundraiser for militant group, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

"AM was tasked as a fundraiser for Jamaah Islamiyah, it is known as isthisad," Hartono told the press.

AM also conducted entrepreneurship training for all JI members for starting businesses, he added.

"With that, members' businesses were expected to grow and this would increase donations to the organization," he said, adding that the funds were meant to be used to support the terror outfit.

The arrest of AM in Tangerang was a follow-up to the arrests of 22 terror suspects in East Java between February and early March this year.

The anti-terror squad made some of the arrests in East Java, Jakarta, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra on March 19, 2021.

It arrested two suspects in Jakarta, six suspects in West Sumatra and 18 suspects in North Sumatra. (Antaranews)

Jakarta. State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir echoed his ministry's commitment to help develop national sports, which is part of the strategic role of state-owned firms as drivers of the nation’s development.

"Sports is one of the aspects of life that has a direct, far-reaching impact, and of course, it becomes the center of interest of state-owned companies," Thohir noted during a national sports seminar held here on Wednesday.

The State-Owned Enterprises Ministry has instructed state lender Bank Rakyat (BRI) to lend direct support for organizing the U-20 World Cup, the minister remarked.

In the meantime, state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina is tasked with contributing to hold MotoGP in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara Province, while state-owned telecommunication operator Telkom has been assigned to organize the National Sports Week (PON) in Papua, he noted.

State lender Bank Mandiri is responsible for ensuring the success of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup that serves as a gateway for the FIBA World Basketball Championship 2023. "This especially holds true for badminton, as it is a kind of sport that we take pride in on account of the worldwide achievements we have garnered in that discipline. Hence, the responsibility (of holding the badminton tournament) has been given to Bank BNI," he stated.

Despite being moved back to 2021, the commitment of state-owned companies to sponsor PON in Papua remained unaffected.

Thohir highlighted the involvement of at least 13 state-owned companies in organizing the event, including state electricity firm (PLN), state telecommunication operator PT Telkom, state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura, and state port operator Pelindo IV.

Apart from readying infrastructure to support the success of the event, state-owned companies have also channeled funding for the sectors that do not receive budget funding from the regional government, as the organizer of the event, he remarked.

Pelindo IV allocated Rp13 billion for port infrastructure, while PLN has built distribution network, mobile relay station, mobile UPS, and generator sets worth Rp246 billion.

"What I have disclosed shows that state-owned companies care about the development of national sports. Sports is part of the economic and social values that we develop and is the first priority of the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry's five priorities," he stated.(Antaranews)

Jakarta. The New Zealand government has sought information on the legal process instituted against the armed Papuan group accused of shooting New Zealander Graeme Thomas Wall in Papua last year, a top police officer said.

"New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia, Jonathan Austin, has asked about the legal process against the perpetrators," Papua deputy police chief, Brig.Gen. Eko Rudi Sudarto, said in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, on Wednesday.

Ambassador Austin raised the question during an online meeting with the Papua police on Tuesday (March 23, 2021) and was informed about the police's handling of the case, he informed.

Graeme Thomas Wall, who worked for PT Freeport Indonesia, was fatally shot by members of an armed Papuan group in Kuala Kencana, Timika, Mimika district, on March 30, 2020.

One of the perpetrators, Tandi Kogoya, a battalion commander of armed Papuan criminal groups operating in Intan Jaya district, was killed in a raid in Iwaka on April 9, 2020, Sudarto informed.

The police had also detained another suspect, identified as TW, over his alleged involvement in the fatal shooting at the gold mining company's office that ended in the New Zealander's death.

"The law enforcement against the armed criminals is going on," Sudarto said, adding that the meeting with Ambassador Austin did not just focus on the shooting case

During the meeting, Ambassador Austin also offered cooperation in a capacity-building program for Indonesian police officers stationed in Papua province, he added.

"We have warmly welcomed the offered cooperation,” he said.

The Papua provincial administration has been making efforts to restore normalcy in Intan Jaya district, which has witnessed a spike in violence against civilians and security personnel in the past two years.

Intan Jaya recorded its bloodiest month in September, 2020, with armed groups launching a series of attacks in the area that claimed the lives of two soldiers and two civilians and left two others injured.

The armed groups have continued their acts of terror in the new year, which involve hit-and-run tactics against Indonesian security personnel, and violence against civilians to instill fear among them.

On January 6, 2021, at least 10 armed Papuans vandalized and torched a Quest Kodiak aircraft belonging to the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) at the Pagamba village airstrip.

On February 8, 2021, an armed rebel reportedly shot a 32-year-old man at close range in Bilogai village, Sugapa sub-district.

The victim, identified by his initials as RNR, sustained gunshot wounds on the face and right shoulder and was taken to the Timika Public Hospital in Mimika district on February 9.

In a separate incident on February 9, 2021, six armed Papuans fatally stabbed a motorcycle taxi (ojek) driver.(Antaranews)