South Korean authorities on Friday conducted a series of military maneuvers aimed at «ensuring the protection» of the Dokdo islands, also known as Takeshima, after Japan included them in its national security strategy because it considers them under its sovereignty despite the dispute with South Korean authorities.
Thus, the South Korean Navy and Coast Guard have carried out a series of exercises in the area to «increase the country’s combat readiness for a possible incursion of foreign forces on the islands in question,» according to the Yonhap news agency.
South Korean forces have carried out similar maneuvers in the area since the 1980s and, since 2003, have usually conducted them twice a year. The disputed islands lie between Japan and South Korea, and came under South Korean jurisdiction after World War II.
However, Japan has on numerous occasions referred to this situation as an «illegal occupation» of the islands, which it considers part of its Shimane prefecture.
It has therefore proposed to Seoul to take the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which South Korea refuses to do since it considers that such a dispute does not exist and that the islands are South Korean territory.
Following the announcement of the new Japanese national security strategy, the South Korean Foreign Ministry has stressed that the Japanese government «must realize once and for all that repeating falsehoods about the Dokdo islands does nothing to help our future relations».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
