REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BUSAN -- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Thursday appreciated the South Korean Government for its competent handling of the trawler tragedy that happened in the Bering Sea in Russia.

The 1,753-ton Oryong 501 was carrying 60 crew members, including 35 Indonesians, when it went down the western Bering Sea on December 1, 2014. Soon after the accident, South Korea dispatched a rescue team to join the search for the missing crew of the ill-fated trawler and rescued seven crew members, including three Indonesians.

"I really appreciate and respect South Korea's quick response to the sinking of Oryong," President Jokowi told his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye during a bilateral meeting on Thursday.

South Korea's Ministry of Public Safety and Security said it had sent a patrol boat and a chopper with 74 rescuers, investigators, and other personnel on board to join the search operation and determine the cause of the accident. Of the 35 Indonesian crew members, three were rescued, 14 drowned, while 18 remain missing.

Expressing his concern and sympathy for the Oryong victims, President Jokowi has asked the foreign ministers of Indonesia and South Korea to immediately form a joint commission for strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries.

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