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The South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer

The Japanese government issued a strong protest after a South Korean naval vessel in the East Sea locked its targeting radar on a patrol plane operated by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

“At 3 pm on Dec. 20, a South Korean destroyer aimed its fire control radar at a Japanese P-1 patrol plane that was conducting surveillance operations above the waters near the Noto Peninsula [in central Honshu],” Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said during a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on the evening of Dec. 21.

“Aiming fire control radar is the action taken before opening fire. It’s an extremely dangerous action that could provoke an unexpected incident. In consideration of the gravity of this situation, we strongly protested to the South Korean government,” Iwaya said.

Japan’s Defense Ministry also posted a message about the incident on its website: “The South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer aimed its fire control radar at a P-1 patrol plane that belongs to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s 4th aviation group.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry has reportedly communicated its “strong regret” to the South Korean ambassador to Japan and to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Iwaya said that the location of the incident was “quite some distance” from Dokdo and that the radar lock was “visually confirmed by the P-1 patrol plane.”

Japan has been harassed by Chinese warships aiming their fire control radar at Japanese vessels and aircraft in the waters around the Senkaku Islands (called the Diaoyudao Islands in China), which is the focus of an ongoing territorial dispute between the two countries.

An official in South Korea’s Ministry of Defense provided the following explanation: “When a North Korean fishing boat began drifting in the open seas about 100km northeast of Dokdo on Dec. 20, our coast guard and navy engaged in a search and rescue operation that lasted for nearly ten hours. Because of poor weather conditions and choppy seas at the time, all of our destroyer's radars were fully activated. In the process, the surveillance radar attached to the fire control did a 360-degree sweep of the area, with the signal detecting the Japanese P1 patrol plane." In other words, the fire control radar did not directly target the P1 patrol plane as the Japanese government claims.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent, and Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer

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