South Korea holds military drills near disputed islets amid row over 'stalled' Japan talks

South Korea's Naval forces and Coast Guards began a military drill on Tuesday near the disputed easternmost islets of Dokdo, a set of islands also claimed by Japan, military sources told Yonhap news agency. The drill dubbed as the East Sea Territory Protection Exercise comes days after the scheduled talks between the two countries were stalled over Tokyo’s Olympics map spat that marked disputed Dokdo islets as Japanese territory. Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee issued the map which included the Liancourt Rocks which Japan recognizes as ‘Takeshima’ which exacerbated ties between the two nations. 

South Korea’s military exercise that involves the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, "is aimed at responding to threats to our territory, people, and properties," the agency reported citing a Navy official. South Korea has conducted the drills near the islets annually since 1986 as it effectively controls the islets and enjoys sovereignty on it with a small police detachment since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

While Seoul customarily conducts two drills around the islets every year, usually in June and December to fend off foreign infiltrations in the region, the South Korean armed forces launched the exercise following heightened tensions with Japan as the decade-long territorial row rekindled after Tokyo called off an agreed meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. 

Difficulties not 'one-sided', says Japan

Tokyo had earlier rejected Seoul’s request to scrap the depiction of Dokdo islets on the Olympics map. The two Asian neighbours indulged in a spat as their bilateral relations ebbed at one of the lowest in decades. Japan's chief cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato although denied that the talks were cancelled by Tokyo unilaterally, adding that the difficulties were not “one-sided”. He added that Tokyo had lodged a protest with Seoul about the military drill, calling it “unacceptable and extremely regrettable” at a state presser. In a statement  to Yonhap, a defense ministry official responded on condition of anonymity saying that the exercise is “a regular one aimed at beefing up our defense capabilities.”