The announcement comes amid diplomatic tensions in Japan about the ownership of Takeshima or Dokdo islands
According to Yonhap, South Korea conducted military drills close to islands in the middle of a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea, reporting on Friday citing reliable sources.
Japan had earlier in the month reiterated its claim to Takeshima’s Dokdo islands.
Seoul has protested Tokyo’s renewed attempts to claim ownership of the islands and has stated that such moves do not help efforts to build “future-oriented”The relations between these two nations.
“{The government} strongly protests against Japan’s repetition of its sovereignty claim over Dokdo, clearly an integral part of the Korean territory in terms of history, geography and international law, and urges it to immediately scrap it,”Choi Young-sam, spokesperson for the South Korean Foreign Ministry said this in a statement released last week.
They are known internationally as Liancourt Rocks, Dokdo, in South Korea and Takeshima, in Japan. The western portion of the Sea of Japan (or East Sea) is where the islands can be found. Japan ruled the islands between 1910 and 1945 under its colonial control over Korea. They fell under South Korea’s de facto control after World War II, when a small force of police was stationed in the area.
Sources told Yonhap that Friday’s drills were aimed at ensuring the country’s military readiness to fend off potential foreign incursions on the rocky outcrops. “Dokdo is our territory, and these drills are part of regular ones that we conduct every year,”A source quoted one official as saying that this was possible under the condition anonymity.
Since 1986, South Korea holds military drills close to the islands. They have been conducted twice annually since 2003. According to Yonhap, the first drill is held in June. However, this year, it was moved back to accommodate US, South Korea, and Japan’s efforts to strengthen their security relations amid increasing tensions with North Korea. Three states reached an agreement in June to resume joint military drills, last held in the latter part of 2017.
The US and South Korea conducted their first joint exercise involving Fifth-generation stealth fighter jet fighters earlier this month. This exercise occurred after Seoul claimed that Pyongyang had conducted test missile launches and violated a 2018 moratorium. South Korean officials warned in June that they would respond. “promptly and sternly”For any other “provocations”Coming from the North.
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