Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Radar row worsens Korea-Japan ties
The footage provided by Japan's defense ministry on what it claims was the South Korean Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer's operation of a fire-control radar on a Japanese warplane. / Yonhap
By Kim Bo-eun
By Kim Bo-eun
Relations between South Korea and Japan are going from bad to worse after Tokyo released footage last week of its warplane flying over a South Korean naval destroyer conducting a rescue mission in the East Sea.
South Korea immediately protested the “act of threat” by a Japanese plane in international waters and the video release.
This case is becoming a new source of diplomatic tension between the two countries, which have been in a growing feud in recent months over historical issues. Some observers say the new row represents a rift in military cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo over Pyongyang.
The controversy is being fueled as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is reported to have ordered the release of the video.
Japan's Ministry of Defense on Friday released a video clip of its Maritime Self-Defense Force P-1 patrol aircraft.
The video was released to back up Japan's claim that South Korea's Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer targeted the warplane with a fire-control radar on Dec. 20. The use of fire control radar is seen as a precondition of attack.
South Korea's defense ministry disputed the claim, stating the destroyer had been on a humanitarian mission to rescue a North Korean ship that was drifting into international waters of the East Sea.
The ministry expressed “deep concerns and regrets” over Japan's move to release the footage, especially since it came a day after the countries held a working-level video conference on resolving the escalating issue.
In the video, the operator of the warplane states the discovery of the destroyer's radar directed at his plane.
The ministry said the footage does not serve as evidence. It requested radar frequency data, which the Japanese government stated it could not provide for reasons concerning security.
Meanwhile, the plane was flying only about 150 meters above the destroyer. The International Civil Aviation Organization's ANNEX2 Chapter 4 Visual flight rules ban aircraft from flying within 150 meters above water or ground, with the exception of cases in which this is necessary for take-offs, landings or when permission has been granted.
South Korea's defense ministry said this was an act of threat to a foreign vessel, as well as a provocative act that obstructed the rescue mission.
Japanese media reported that its defense ministry had been reluctant to release the video, but did so upon Abe's order.
The move comes amid strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo concerning historic issues, including Koreans' forced labor and sex slavery under Japan's 1910-1945 occupation of Korea.
Tension between the countries has grown after South Korea's top court ruled in October and November for two Japanese firms to compensate victims of forced labor. The South Korean government also stated it would disband a foundation that was set up to carry out a disputed deal on settling sex slavery issues reached between Seoul and Tokyo in December 2015. The Japanese government has protested the latest developments.
Concerns are growing over the rift between the countries at a time cooperation on North Korea is crucial, amid a process for the regime to denuclearize.