Korea on Friday conducted defense drills in waters near the easternmost islets of Dokdo to prepare for any situation in which foreigners trespass in the territorial waters, amid a continued diplomatic standoff with Japan.
The joint operation by Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard was held under a scenario in which the maritime police play a leading role if citizens of other countries attempt to approach and illegally land on the islets. The training started at 8 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., according to senior military sources.
After the one-day training, the Navy will hold their own regular drills in the East Sea through Monday, they noted.
"The exercise was carried out under the scenario in which the Coast Guard took a leading role in repelling foreign civilians invading territorial waters near Dokdo or trying to land on Dokdo," Col. Lee Bung-woo, the Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman, said. "The military provided support for the Coast Guard during the operation."
Later Friday, Kurai Takashi, Japan's deputy chief of mission in Seoul, visited Seoul's foreign ministry to protest the exercise.
The biannual drills previously involved the Marine Corps for landing operations but the government recently excluded such operations from this exercise, apparently mindful of high tension between Korea and Japan over Dokdo since President Lee Myung-bak's unprecedented visit to the islets on Aug. 10.
A senior presidential official earlier said Seoul decided to exclude landing maneuvers as the government has already expressed its political determination through Lee's visit to Dokdo. Japan, which has claimed Dokdo as its territory, strongly protested the visit.
Korea rejected Tokyo's claims to Dokdo as amounting to denying Korea's independence from its 1910-45 colonial rule because the country reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula, when it regained independence.
Korea has kept a small police detachment on Dokdo since 1954. (Yonhap)