South Korea has begun annual military drills near a pair of remote islands that are also claimed by Japan, as the long-running territorial dispute threatens to sour preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The exercises near the Liancourt Rocks — known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan — began days after a meeting between the two nations’ leaders on the sidelines of the G7 summit in England was reportedly canceled due to Japanese objections to the exercises.
Earlier this month, South Korea lodged a complaint with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after organizers of the Games identified the islands as Japanese on an online map showing the route of the Olympic torch relay.
The start of the annual military drills is expected to strain relations that have already been soured by disputes over the nations’ bitter wartime history.
Despite their status as key US allies and a shared interest in denuclearizing North Korea, Tokyo and Seoul are locked in disagreement over Japan’s sexual slavery and use of laborers who were forced to work in its mines and factories before and during World War II.
Naval, air and coast guard forces are to join the drills, which are being staged mostly at sea, with minimal contact between troops due to COVID-19 concerns, the South Korean Ministry of National Defense said.
Yonhap news agency said a rumored meeting between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last weekend was canceled after Suga took issue with the drills.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Moon had been planning to tell Suga of his desire to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 23 in a public show of support for the controversial event.
The visit would also be an opportunity for the two men to hold their first talks.
Moon said that he was disappointed not to have met Suga during the G7.
“My first encounter with prime minister Suga would have been a precious chance [for] a new start in the South Korea-Japan relationship, but I am sorry that it could not develop into a meeting,” he wrote on Facebook.
Japanese officials said the meeting had been called off due to scheduling problems.
A South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs official would not confirm if the drills were the reason for the cancelation, saying only that “the exercises are regularly held every year for the purpose of defending our territory,” Reuters reported.
The drills around the islets have taken place twice a year since 1986, prompting frequent protests from Japan, which insists they are “inherently” Japanese — a claim it says is supported by international law.
“The drills are unacceptable and extremely regrettable,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said yesterday. “We have protested to the South Korean government and called for them to be halted.”
Kato added that there was “no truth” in reports that Moon planned to visit Tokyo during the Olympic Games.
Japan has rejected South Korea’s demand to amend the Olympics map, prompting calls from some South Korean lawmakers for the nation to boycott the Games.
The Liancourt Rocks — named after a French whaling ship that was almost wrecked there in 1849 — lie 225km off the east coast of South Korea.
The rocks are guarded by a small police detachment and their sole resident is 83-year-old Kim Shin-yeol, who lived there with her husband, Kim Sung-do, until his death in 2018.
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