In every business negotiations, each party would want to know about what the other party actually think and want from the negotiation.
For which purpose, they would do and use anything, including the intelligence service, to get information related to their counterpart.
Perhaps that's what happened to the Indonesian delegation when they were negotiating with South Korean counterpart in Seoul, about their plan to purchase various military equipments.
The Washington Post reported that on 16 February, two men and one woman broke into a room at the Lotte Hotel used by an aide to the leader of a visiting Indonesian delegation. They were using a USB flash drive to copy files from one of the two laptop computers left in the room but fled after the aide returned, leaving behind the computers.
The Seoul Police said Monday they were investigating the mysterious hotel room break-in, while the local media reported that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had tried to steal documents about a possible arms deal.
For which purpose, they would do and use anything, including the intelligence service, to get information related to their counterpart.
Perhaps that's what happened to the Indonesian delegation when they were negotiating with South Korean counterpart in Seoul, about their plan to purchase various military equipments.
The Washington Post reported that on 16 February, two men and one woman broke into a room at the Lotte Hotel used by an aide to the leader of a visiting Indonesian delegation. They were using a USB flash drive to copy files from one of the two laptop computers left in the room but fled after the aide returned, leaving behind the computers.
The Seoul Police said Monday they were investigating the mysterious hotel room break-in, while the local media reported that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had tried to steal documents about a possible arms deal.
Although NIS and the Indonesian Defense Ministry denied this report, however the South Korean media alleged that NIS's officials may have lobbied Indonesia to hush up the break-in.
The Chosun Ilbo reported on Monday that the Indonesian delegation has been silent about the hotel room break-in incident, while the Indonesian Ambassador officially asked the South Korean Foreign Ministry for a full account of the incident 5-days after the incident.
Considering that I have always considered South Korea is a very good friend of Indonesia, I hope that their government would conduct an open investigation on this case.
However, I have a very big question about how is it possible for an official negotiation team of our country could have carelessly left their laptops unguarded at a hotel room ? Why don't they think about leaving them at a much safer place i.e the Indonesian Embassy in Seoul ?
Logo of NIS : Courtesy of Wikipedia.
14 comments:
ketika pertama kali dengar berita ini di televisi, saya sempat terkejut juga, mas harry. sedemikian cerobohkah delegasi negeri ini hingga menaruh laptop yang berisi dokumen penting dan rahasia bisa tercuri oleh pihak asing?
A typical case of "oops", I gather.
Commercial and industrial and political espionage happens all the time - even between close allies. And human stupidity ( carelessness - military men, civil servant, police or prosecutors business tycoons leaving their laptops in all kinds of places, loosing their usb flash drives etc- happens also very frequently.
So some people should be held accountable. But the Seoul incident isn't extremely extra-ordinary.
Thanks for share this Harry! I think Indonesia shoud more proper in kept any information from other countries,, coz we have to be carefull even Korea is good friend with Indonesia.. sometimes a little mistake could be a disaster.
Happy Blogging;)
@Sawali,
Benar mas, sangat menyedihkan mengingat mereka adalah delegasi resmi pemerintah untuk pembelian senjata. Seharusnya extra ketat.
@Colson,
I agree with you that there should someone (s) to be responsible for leaving the laptops. Very shameful incident.
@Dee,
Yes you are right, a little mistake can be a disaster. They should not be acting as if they were on vacation.
ouuh i understand now about the case of "Laptop Incident"
i dont read this news completely in detik.com or kompas.com
hopefully there's nothing significant happen after this case. and, about who left laptop carelessly, it's ridiculous, really ~_~"
well, our government denied that such event ever happened... :D
@Meutia,
This is a shameful incident that should not have happened if the officials are focused in doing their jobs in Seoul.
@Ria/the Dream Catcher,
Our officials were silent about the for 5 days. Our ambassador in Seoul complained last Monday to the South Korean Foreign Ministry about the incident.
hehehe apa yang tidak dihilangkan.. dari kasus diatas kita makin mengerti, kalau sesungguhnya mereka masa bodoh dengan negara.
Tips Wisata Murah,
Sepertinya bagi mereka yang utama adalah kepentingan pribadi.
Hi Harry
The facts here....
all this sounds too fishy to me.
1) Would South Korea be so stupid
as to jeopardise its reputation
by sending spies to steal data,
more so in its own homeland, during
an important visit by foreign dignitaries ? Wouldn't all this
look bad on the host if found out?
2) How would they know if there is
valuable information in the laptop?
Maybe all they had are files related to business discussions.
Considering the nature of business negotiations change from time to time, what is there to spy on then ? And if the files are indeed important, wouldn't Indonesia be more careful as to secure the data with password/ security triggers ?
3) Didn't the Indonesian delegation ensure the security of the diplomats, i.e arranging for a safe accomodation ? Considering the
the high profile of the participants, I'm sure Korea would
have gone all the way to make sure
adequate and proper security is
arranged for their esteemed guests, especially when a profitable negotiation with Indonesia is under discussion.
4) The hotel would have ensured the privacy of its Indonesian guests, so not many would know where their rooms are located.
Who could have supplied information to the spies then ?
Who is in the position to know
the delegates' whereabouts and when they leave their rooms ?
Who benefits by exposing these
details ?
5) Who has the capacity to penetrate the security of the hotels and extract data from the
laptops ? Wouldn't they have left
traces behind ? E.g hair, skin flakes, etc.
There are too many questions left unanswered here. It could be someone who's trying to sabotage
relations between both nations, it could be rivals of both countries,
it could be some individual businessman.(although highly unlikely), it could be anyone.
Until we second guess, the mystery remains nothing but .....a mystery
I have to agree with Bear Wife in this matter, that it is a mystery.
@Bear Wife,
I agree with you that this is a mystery. There is something fishy about this.
Even as a tourist we would not leave our precious belonging unattended at the hotel room.
Maybe that's why they only lodge complain 5 days after the Korean media alleged about the stealing.
@Passionate Blogger,
Yes you are right.
diplomat indonesia ceroboh sekali, mereka mengira korsel negara sahabat jadi tdk ada spying...
R10,
Anda benar. Semoga kejadian ini akan menjadi pelajaran berharga bagi yang lain.
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