(LEAD) S. Korea spurns Japan's call for halt to Dokdo defense drill

All News 15:45 June 18, 2018

(ATTN: UPDATES with government's view, other details; ADDS photo; CHANGES headline)

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korea dismissed Japan's protest Monday against its regular military exercise to defend Dokdo, a pair of rocky islets in the East Sea.

The exercises is intended to "prevent outside forces from invading Dokdo, which is a territory of the Republic of Korea," Choi Hyun-soo, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said at a press briefing. She used the official name of South Korea.

The statement came as the country's Navy kicked off the dills to hone the capability to counter potential threats.

The two-day training involves the 3,200-ton Yangmanchun destroyer and five other warships as well as seven aircraft including P-3C maritime surveillance planes, UH-60 Blackhawk choppers, the Air Force's F-15K fighter jets.

A unit of marines has been also mobilized for a landing exercise.

An image of the South Korean Navy's drill aimed at defending Dokdo in a photo provided by Yonhap News TV. (Yonhap)

Dokdo has long belonged to Korea but Japan has claimed its sovereignty over the islets, a legacy of its imperialistic past.

In a message delivered via a diplomatic channel to South Korea, Japan's foreign ministry said the military maneuver is "unacceptable," according to local news reports.

Last month, it reiterated its claim to ownership of Dokdo in a yearly foreign policy document, known as the Diplomatic Bluebook.

South Korea's military first staged such a Dokdo defensive practice in 1986. Since 2003, it has conducted the drills twice a year in a show of Seoul's effective control of the rocky islets, which are inhabited by just a small Coast Guard detachment.