The South Korean military plans to carry out a drill to deter trespassers on its easternmost islets of Dokdo later this month, a government source said Friday.
The drill is scheduled to take place on Nov. 24 on the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea and in its surrounding waters, aiming “to repel non-military forces that approach the islets via a sea or air route,” a source said, requesting anonymity.
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| Special forces of the Navy and the Coast Guard conduct a joint military drill at the Dokdo Islets in October last year. (Yonhap) |
The planned exercise will involve some five to six destroyers and convoys as well as some fighters and patrol planes.
“The drill will include a landing training exercise by a squad of Marines from a UH-60 helicopter,” he noted.
The exercise has been carried out twice a year since 1986, with the last one taking place on May 30, despite protests from Japan, which has long laid claim to Dokdo, stoking enmity in South Korea toward its former colonial ruler.
South Korea says such claims are tantamount to Japan’s denial of Korea‘s independence from its 1910-45 colonial rule, as Seoul reclaimed sovereignty over all of its territories ― including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula ― upon its independence.
“Dokdo is our territory in historical and practical terms,” defense ministry vice-spokesman Wi Yong-seop told a regular briefing.
“No circumstances shall be factored into conducting a drill to protect our own territory. We will go ahead with the exercise as planned,” he stressed. (Yonhap)
