Japan protests S. Korea plan to conduct drills near disputed isles

Japan has lodged a protest with South Korea over its plan to conduct a military drill around the Seoul-controlled, Tokyo-claimed islets in the Sea of Japan, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday. (Photo: Ministério das Relações Exteriores/Flickr)

TOKYO—Japan has lodged a protest with South Korea over its plan to conduct a military drill around the Seoul-controlled, Tokyo-claimed islets in the Sea of Japan, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday.

The drill, starting next Monday, “is unacceptable in light of our country’s stance regarding the sovereignty of Takeshima,” Kishida told reporters, referring to the islets known as Dokdo in South Korea.

“It is regrettable.”

Kenji Kanasugi, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, lodged the protest Wednesday with a senior diplomat at the South Korean embassy in Tokyo, a Japanese government source said.