VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The foreign ministers of South Korea and China pledged on Thursday to work together to advance bilateral ties and tackle regional and global issues including stalled nuclear talks involving North Korea and the coronavirus pandemic.

South Korea’s Kang Kyung-wha held talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi who arrived in Seoul late on Wednesday, after spending two days in Tokyo amid talk of a trip to Seoul by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Wang said his visit was to highlight the importance of bilateral relations as the two countries cooperate as “strategic partners” on defending regional peace and stability and promote global governance.

“The COVID-19 crisis could not defeat the citizens of our two countries,” he told Kang at the start of the meeting, through an interpreter.

“The bilateral ties have overcome the COVID-19 ordeals and are showing their strength and ever more vigour.”

Kang thanked Wang for the visit, expressing hopes for an exchange of views to deepen cooperation on issues including North Korea, the pandemic and economic recovery ahead of the 30th anniversary of the bilateral relations in 2022.

“I am also looking forward to discussing ways to stably manage the fluid situation on the Korean peninsula and to foster conditions to move forward our efforts to build lasting peace,” she said.

The ministerial talks come as both countries explore the possibility of Xi visiting Seoul, just as the United States is gearing up for a new administration under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. Xi’s trip had been expected early this year but was postponed by the pandemic disrupting the diplomatic calendar.

Wang is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in, among other officials.

Wang is the second senior Chinese diplomat to visit South Korea since the coronavirus emerged in China late last year, following an August trip by Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party Politburo. (Reuters)

The global tally of confirmed coronavirus cases hit 60 million on Wednesday, with the pace of new infections accelerating and the United States reporting record numbers of hospitalizations, according to a Reuters tally.

Officials in the United States, the worst-affected country in the world, urged Americans to stay home for the imminent Thanksgiving holiday as soaring numbers of COVID-19 patients pushed medical professionals to the brink.

The United States has reported 1 million new COVID-19 cases in less than a week, taking its total reported infections to over 12.5 million and its death toll to 260,000, according to the Reuters data based on official statements.

Globally, infections stood at 60.005 million and deaths at 1.4 million. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/3q38VSH)

An analysis of the Reuters data showed the rate of new infections picking up globally. It took just 17 days to go from 50 million cases to 60 million, compared with the 21 days it took to go from 40 million to 50 million. Around 580,000 cases have been reported each day over the past week and around half of all cases since the start of the pandemic were reported over the past 70 days. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/366qPfc)

In Europe, 1 million new cases were recorded over just five days, for a total of more than 16 million cases, including 365,000 deaths.

Governments across Europe are struggling to impose restrictions on public life while allowing families to celebrate Christmas without further fuelling outbreaks.

While a national lockdown in England is due to end next week, Germany, Spain, and Italy have all announced restrictions over the holiday period, including limits on house guests.

The Latin American region has the highest number of reported deaths in the world, representing about 21% of all global cases and over 31% of all global deaths reported. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/33cHDzp)

Brazil last week joined the United States and India as the only countries to have recorded more than 6 million infections. With almost 170,000 confirmed fatalities, Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll.

While India remains the second-worst affected country in the world with almost 9.2 million cases, it has continued to report a slowdown in new cases in recent weeks. It has reported an average of around 44,000 cases a day over the past week, well down from a peak of just under 97,900 cases in mid-September.

Asia-Pacific countries such as China, South Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand had shown how rapid, local, and intrusive steps can be effective in extinguishing outbreaks. (Reuters)

National Police Chief General Idham Azis instructed the Heads of Police Regional Units (Kasatwil) to enforce health protocols strictly, dispel crowds, and adopt a neutral approach during local elections or else be sanctioned.

The general gave instructions while leading a roll call in which the attendees comprised provincial, district, and municipality police chiefs across Indonesia, at the Police Headquarters, here on Wednesday, Prabowo Argo Yuwono, spokesman of the National Police, remarked.

"The handling of COVID-19 should be firm and without hesitation. If there is a crowd, disperse it. Beyond a doubt, the Regional police chiefs must enforce health protocols along with the TNI (Indonesian military), Satpol PP (civilian legal enforcers), and community leaders," Yuwono stated.

Regional police chiefs are also ordered to maintain security and stay neutral during the implementation of the 2020 simultaneous regional head elections (Pilkada).

The National police chief will not waver from imposing disciplinary sanctions in the event of these instructions not being implemented.

"If a member of the Police were to commit an offense, the Chief of Police would warn via STR (telegram), vidcon, or direct directives that he/she will be dealt with firmly based on the violations committed on the field," he stated.

Furthermore, the National Police Chief has allowed the public to hold rallies in connection with the Job Creation Law. However, the local police are instructed to take firm action immediately if the demonstration took an anarchist turn.

Meanwhile, ahead of Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021, the National Police will hold a special centralized Police operation code-named "Operasi Lilin" from Dec 23, 2020, to Jan 4, 2021.

"Some 191,582 personnel are involved in the Candle Operation security, and 4,216 service posts and security posts have been readied. For these activities, we prioritize sympathetic activities and no repressive action," Yuwono remarked.

A total of 34 provincial police chiefs and 493 district and municipal police chiefs attended the 2020 roll call that followed health protocols against COVID-19.

The National police chief recently replaced the Jakarta, West Java, Central Jakarta and Bogor police chiefs following crowds of people during an inauguration of a mosque and maulid (the birth of the Prophet Muhammad commemoration) as well as the wedding of the daughter of Rizieq Shihab respectively in Bogor and Jakarta. (Antaranews)

 Indonesia’s House Speaker Puan Maharani has expressed her support for the strengthening of bilateral relations between Indonesia and South Korea, including cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries.

"I hope this visit can further strengthen the relationship between the two countries, hence there will be more concrete benefits for the people of the two countries," Puan Maharani said in a statement, following her meeting with Kim Sang-Hee, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea, at the DPR RI building here on Wednesday.

The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) and South Korea's Parliament could work together more closely in encouraging women's empowerment in decision-making, Maharani remarked.

DPR has formed bilateral friendship groups with 102 parliaments from various countries, including South Korea.

“I hope that the close cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries can help achieve various development goals through the exchange of information regarding the roles and functions of parliaments in the two countries,” Maharani said.

She also lauded bilateral cooperation in COVID-19 handling and thanked South Korea for providing assistance to Indonesia.

The two countries should establish cooperation in joint research and vaccine development, she suggested.

"I invite various parties in Korea to establish cooperation with Indonesian partners in the field of medical device innovation," she added.

The PDI-P politician said that in relation to economic cooperation, Indonesia is always keen to improve its investment climate, adding she hoped that the Korean parliament will help encourage Korean companies to invest in Indonesia.

During their meeting, she and her South Korean guest also discussed issues on protection for more than 33 thousand Indonesian migrant workers in the Republic of Korea.

"I hope for the support of the Korean parliament to continue to improve protection for Indonesian migrant workers in Korea," she said. (Antaranews)