South Korea will stage a regular military exercise near a disputed island this month amid a renewed territorial claim by Japan, the defence ministry said Thursday.
The twice-yearly defensive drill near the Seoul-controlled islet in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) will be held in mid-August, a ministry spokesman told AFP without elaborating.
The island is called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima by Japan.
Seoul Tuesday voiced “strong protests” at a renewed claim to the island in Tokyo’s recent defence white paper, and summoned a senior Japanese diplomat to lodge a complaint.
Yonhap news agency said the upcoming drill grouping the navy, army, air force and coastguard would involve some 10 warships plus F-15K fighter jets and other weaponry.
The scenario is to repel a foreign ship in waters near Dokdo, it quoted a military source as saying.
The rocky island, roughly halfway between the two countries, has been disputed for decades between South Korea and its former colonial ruler Japan.
Seoul deploys a small coastguard force on Dokdo.
