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The dashed line joins the two city centres; the true shortest path on the globe is a great-circle arc, and real flight paths also bend around restricted airspace and follow airways.

Northbound over the South China Sea

From Jakarta the route runs north across the Java Sea and the western tip of Borneo near Pontianak, crossing the equator early in the flight. It continues over the open South China Sea west of the Philippines, passes between Taiwan and mainland China, then crosses the East China Sea to the Korean Peninsula. Nonstop flights link Soekarno–Hatta (CGK) with Incheon (ICN), Seoul’s international gateway on an island west of the city.

A growing partnership

South Korea has become one of Indonesia’s most important industrial partners. Korean car and battery makers have built electric-vehicle and battery plants in West Java, drawn partly by Indonesia’s large nickel reserves, and the two governments jointly developed the KF-21 fighter jet. Thousands of Indonesians work in Korea through its government-run Employment Permit System. Korean dramas and K-pop have a huge following in Indonesia. The two cities are two hours apart in clock time, and neither uses daylight saving time.