South Korea warns of retaliation against Japan’s ‘provocative’ flights as military relations sour over radar-lock dispute
- Japanese surveillance planes have been flying near South Korean warships “in a threatening manner” since December 20, sparking “strong condemnation” by the South Korean military
- Tokyo and Seoul have been embroiled in a military dispute over an incident where a South Korean navy vessel is alleged to have engaged a fire-control radar against a Japanese aircraft
South Korea’s military on Wednesday said Japanese surveillance planes have repeatedly flown close to its navy ships in recent days, and warned it would take “strong countermeasures” against the “provocative acts” if the flights continued.
The first of such flights occurred on December 20, when a fire-control radar was allegedly engaged by a South Korean navy vessel against a Japanese patrol plane over the Sea of Japan, sparking a rare military row between the two allies.
Over the past week, three more low-altitude flights – on Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday – by Japanese aircraft flew close to South Korean ships in a “threatening manner”, said Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Although we have clearly asked Japan to prevent recurrences, these low-altitude close-range flights were all carried out in a threatening manner. These clearly constitute provocative acts against a ship of an ally and we strongly condemn them,” said Suh at a press conference. “If these kinds of flights continue, the military will take strong countermeasures in line with its codes of conduct.”
In the last flight, a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s patrol plane flew close to a South Korean warship at an altitude of 60m-70m and approached as close as 540m from the ship near Ieodo, a submerged rock south of Korea’s southern island of Jeju on Wednesday afternoon, it said.