A Japanese coast guard vessel left a southern port on yesterday to take part in a joint marine survey with South Korea in waters claimed by both countries, Japan's coast guard said.
The joint survey that will run from Oct. 7 to Oct. 14 is part of efforts to defuse a long-simmering row between Japan and South Korea over the Sea of Japan islets -- called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean.
The coast guard vessel left early yesterday, counting three South Korean researchers among the 30 Japanese staff and crew.
PHOTO: AP
All are charged with determining the level of radioactivity from nuclear waste that was dumped there over many years by the Soviet Union, a Japanese Coast Guard official said on condition of anonymity, citing departmental policy.
A representative from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- the UN's nuclear watchdog -- was also on board.
A South Korean coast guard ship also left that country's southern port of Busan later yesterday.
It was to join the survey, carrying three Japanese researchers, four South Korean experts and an IAEA official, said Suh Young-sang, an official with South Korea's National Fisheries Research and Development Institute.
The two survey vessels will separately collect seawater and soil samples from six spots, including three near the islets and exchange data and analysis afterward, the official said.
It would take approximately eight months to complete a report based on the findings of the survey, he said.
South Korea and Japan separately conducted a similar survey in 1994-1995, with the cooperation of Russia and the IAEA.
From the 1950s to the 1990s, the Soviet Union dumped radioactive waste off its eastern port of Vladivostok, according to news reports, which did not say what the waste consisted of.
In April, South Korea dispatched over 20 gunboats to fend off an attempt by Japan to survey the same waters.
South Korea views such surveys as efforts to bolster Tokyo's territorial claims. Japan eventually canceled the survey.
Seoul and Tokyo have long been at odds over ownership of the rocky outcroppings, which are effectively controlled by Seoul.
The area surrounding the contested islets is believed to contain an abundance of fish and possibly other undersea resources.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not