Korea conducts relatively subdued exercise around Dokdo islets

Korean military authorities quietly conducted a training exercise around the easternmost Dokdo islets on Wednesday, with Japan protesting the drill the same day.

An underwater performance commemorating Liberation Day is seen taking place near the easternmost Dokdo islets on Aug. 15. [NEWS1]

Korean military authorities quietly conducted a training exercise around the easternmost Dokdo islets on Wednesday, with Japan protesting the drill the same day.

“We conducted the East Sea Territory Defense Training today,” an official from Korea’s military said Wednesday. “We conduct this exercise regularly to protect our sovereign territory and national property.”

The East Sea Territory Defense Training is conducted twice a year around Dokdo.

“Guidelines stipulate that the training be conducted twice yearly, so we plan to conduct it once more within the year,” the official explained.

Wednesday's exercise was of a similar scale to drills conducted around Dokdo last December. Navy and Coast Guard vessels participated in the exercise, while no Marine Corps personnel reportedly landed on Dokdo.

Wednesday’s exercise was the fifth drill around Dokdo since the Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office. The previous four training sessions were also conducted in secret.

In the past, Korean military authorities even mobilized Air Force fighter jets and Marine Corps landing personnel. They publicly announced the training plan in advance and conducted relatively large-scale defense training around Dokdo. However, since the current administration, authorities have conducted the exercise on a relatively small scale and have not announced it in advance.

The Dokdo defense exercise was first conducted in 1986 and has been performed twice yearly since 2003.

Japan has protested to the Korean government every time the Dokdo defense training has taken place, and it also protested Wednesday’s training through diplomatic channels.

According to NHK, a Japanese broadcaster, Hiroyuki Namazu, the Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of Japan’s Foreign Ministry, called in Kim Jang-hyun, the political minister of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo, and lodged a protest.

The Japanese Embassy in Seoul also reportedly lodged a similar protest to the Korean Foreign Ministry.

The Korean Foreign Ministry rebutted Japan's protests and reiterated that Dokdo is Korean sovereign territory.

“Dokdo is historically, geographically and under international law our own territory, and we will continue to respond firmly to Japan’s unjustified claims to it,” said Lee Jae-woong, spokesperson for Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, during a regular press briefing Thursday. “Japan has protested our defense of the East Sea through diplomatic channels, which we have dismissed.”

Korea and Japan’s relations have thawed since the Yoon administration took office, but continued spats over the Dokdo islets and tension from the Unesco World Heritage registration of the Sado Mines, where Korean forced laborers were deployed during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, have muddled improved ties.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]