Japan ignores Seoul's warning, dispatches vessel to survey disputed islets
Japan on Tuesday dispatched a Coast Guard vessel to conduct surveys around islets at the center of a territorial dispute with South Korea — despite stern warnings from Seoul against such a move, a news report said.
A survey boat left Tokyo for the disputed islets, called Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan, on Tuesday, according to Kyodo News agency.
The vessel is scheduled to reach the area around the islets on Thursday to collect hydrographic data after making a brief stop in Sakaiminato in southwestern Japan, Kyodo said. The boat will return to Sakaiminato on the 26th, it said.
Tomoo Fujii of the Coast Guard's hydrographic and oceanographic department said he could not confirm the departure for security reasons, but said a survey in the area was being arranged.
The Coast Guard said last week a survey would be conducted there through June 30, but has not outlined a detailed schedule.
The plans have triggered an uproar in South Korea, and officials have vowed to take stern measures if Tokyo goes ahead with them.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday called the planned surveys part of Tokyo's "offensive provocation" aimed at bolstering its territorial claims.
Local media have reported that South Korea may even try to capture Japanese vessels entering disputed waters.
At a meeting Tuesday called by Roh, lawmakers said Seoul couldn't expect to resolve the issue through quiet diplomacy and must consider all measures to make Japan give up the survey plan, according to Song Min-soon, Roh's main security adviser.
Yonhap news agency reported that Roh scheduled a meeting of foreign affairs and security officials on Wednesday morning to discuss the issue.
The rocky outcroppings, lying about halfway between the two countries, has been a constant source of dispute for decades between South Korea and Japan.
Tokyo claims the islands have been its territory since Japan formally annexed them more than a century ago. It accuses South Korea of illegally seizing them.
South Korea says the islets have been its possession for centuries, and argues Japan's annexation was largely part of Tokyo's 1910-1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula, which is no longer valid.
Economic interests underlie the territorial claims. International maritime law states that an exclusive economic zone extends 370 kilometers from the shore of a country's territory, and gives the country special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources in the area.
Because of the dispute over the islets, the two sides have yet to agree on the extent of their zones.
The territorial row is the latest blow to already-frayed relations between the two Asian neighbors.
Seoul and Tokyo have clashed over issues related to Japan's colonial rule, including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a controversial war shrine that honors convicted war criminals among Japan's war dead. (AP)