Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Another Japanese threatening low-altitude fly-by over Republic of Korea’s Dae Jo Yeong destroyer in international waters near Ieodo on Wednesday

Japan’s third fly-by this month alone, following the incidents on January 18th and 22nd

Korea's Ministry of National Defense issues strong denunciation, summons Japanese defense attaché to lodge a formal protest

Ministry clarifies that it will respond strongly in line with its rules of conduct if there is a recurrence

  
The Ministry of National Defense strongly condemned the low-altitude flight carried out by a Japanese P-3 maritime patrol plane close to our Navy’s Dae Jo Yeong destroyer in international waters near Ieodo at around 2:03 PM on January 23rd, considering it “an apparent provocative act.”

The Japanese plane flew at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters and about 540 meters away from our ship despite its clear identification of the ship, according to the ministry.  

“Despite Republic of Korea’s patient and moderate response to Japan’s threatening low-altitude and close-range flight on December 20th, Japan repeated its close-range fly-bys over our Navy’s ship on January 18th and 22nd,” Suh Wook, chief director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a briefing on the ministry’s position. “As Japan has repeated this type of threatening low altitude flight again today despite our request to prevent its recurrence, we consider it as an obvious provocation against a ship of its ally,” he added.

“We cannot help but question Japan’s real intentions, and strongly condemn this act. If this action is repeated again, we will respond strongly, in accordance with our military code of conduct,” Suh warned. After the briefing, the ministry summoned the Japanese defense attaché (Army Colonel Nagashima Toru) to lodge a strong protest against the incident. 

According to a military official, even though the Republic of Korean ship sent twenty warning messages - ‘You are approaching us. We order you to change your course,’ ‘If you approach closer, we will take an action based on our right of self-defense’ - to the Japanese patrol plane, the Japanese plane circled above our ship, without replying. “Subsequently, our Fleet Command lodged a strong complaint and implored Japan to avoid a recurrence of this incident via the hotline. Japan replied that Republic of Korea’s action based on the right of self-defense against an identified plane of an ally is very inappropriate, and demanded its withdrawal,” the official said. 

Regarding Japan’s repeated claim that a Republic of Korean destroyer directed its fire-control radar at a Japanese patrol plane on December 20th, “As far as I know, this is the first time there has been a prolonged dispute between Republic of Korea and Japan regarding a single issue. I believed that the dispute can be resolved on a working-level basis through an accurate understanding of international law and weapons systems. However, it seems that Japan has another intent,” Minister Jeong said at a press conference, which was held earlier.

Regarding Japan’s decision to halt bilateral consultations on January 21st, Minister Jeong surmised that this was an “exit strategy” for Japan, because it could not refute our claim in a logical way and based on international laws. “It is believed that the criteria for prevention of accidental disputes on the sea are ambiguous in some parts. We need to make efforts to clarify these areas. We should work on avoiding a similar issue through working-level discussions with other countries,” he added.

By Su-Yeol, Maeng <guns13@dema.mil.kr >

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