South Korea’s national flag, Taegeukgi, is spread over a dock on Dokdo on June 30, 2025, in this file photo provided by professor Seo Kyoung-duk of Sungshin University. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea carried out routine military drills this week near Dokdo, its easternmost islets, reaffirming its control over the disputed territory in exercises that again drew protests from Japan.
The drills took place Tuesday in waters off Dokdo, according to a South Korean military official who said they were conducted as part of the armed forces’ regular “East Sea defense” exercises. It was the second such drill held under President Lee Jae Myung’s administration.
“Our military conducts East Sea defense drills on a regular basis each year,” the official said, describing the latest exercise as consistent in scale and format with previous iterations and aimed at protecting South Korea’s territory, citizens and property. Details about participating forces and assets were not disclosed.
Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan, has long been a flashpoint in relations between Seoul and Tokyo. South Korea has maintained effective control of the rocky islets since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, stationing a small police detachment there. Japan, however, continues to assert sovereignty claims in official documents, public statements and school textbooks.
Dokdo (image: Ulleungdont/wikimedia)
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it lodged a formal protest with the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo and conveyed its objections directly to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, reiterating a pattern of diplomatic complaints that typically follow the drills.
South Korea first launched the exercises in 1986 and has conducted them twice a year since 2003. The previous drill was held in July, shortly after President Lee took office, making this week’s exercise the second under the current government.
While the drills are framed by Seoul as routine and defensive, they remain a sensitive reminder of unresolved historical and territorial disputes between the two U.S. allies, even as both governments seek closer cooperation on security and economic issues in the region.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
