S. Korean military drills planned for islands contested with Japan

Seoul, May 6 (IANS/EFE) South Korea plans to conduct a military drill later this month in the Dokdo islands, a region over which it has a territorial dispute with Japan, South Korea's defence ministry said on Wednesday.

"The move could worsen already tense diplomatic ties between the two countries. As a part of the bi-annual drill in the Sea of Japan, Korea's armed forces will simulate defence manoeuvres against an imaginary enemy incursion," a spokesperson from the ministry said.

The exercises will involve fighters and patrol planes, five or six destroyers, convoys and a landing by a group of Marines, a ministry source told Yonhap news agency.

These exercises in the Dokdo islands (known as Takeshima in Japan) usually trigger strong protests from the Japanese government.

The Dokdo/Takeshima archipelago comprises two islets and 35 rocks in the Sea of Japan, located little more than 200 km from both Japan and South Korea.

The islets are inhabited by two elderly South Koreans and have been under the protection of Seoul's coast guard since 1954.

--IANS/EFE

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