South Korea Protests Repeated Naval Encounters with Japanese P-1 Maritime Patrol Aircraft

(Source- Channel A News Top Ten 01.23.19) Patrol aircraft menacing flight near South Korean naval vessel. Japanese patrol aircraft emerges by Yieodo (Socotra Rock) 176 km southsouthwest of Cheju Island.

Today, January 23rd, at 2:03 pm local a Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force aircraft approached a ROK Navy vessel, DDH 977 at very low altitude, estimated to be from 60 to 70 meters AGL, and passed at a distance of 540 meters according to a general officer speaking for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense. The encounter between the naval forces was reported to have taken place near Socotra Rock, a submerged rock shoal, south of Cheju Island. This is the fourth such incident reported according to the Channel A News Top Ten program. The first such incident occurred near the Korean island of Dokdo in the Sea of Japan/ East Sea on December 20, 2018.

In the December 20 incident the Japanese complained that the Korean naval vessel had "locked up" the Japanese P-1 in that encounter with a fire control radar. The Koreans claim no electronic data has been provided by the Japanese government proving there was a fire control solution on the aircraft, but rather the search function was being used to locate a North Korean vessel in distress. Similar low flying aircraft encounters were said to have occurred on January 18, and January 22, 2019 in this Channel A News coverage. According to South China Morning Post, there have been three of these low altitude flights by Japan in the last week.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2183360/south-korea-warns-retaliation-against-japans-provocative-flights

(Source- Channel A News Top Ten 01.23.19) ROK Ministry of National Defense, JCS, Joint Operations Commander, General Seo Ook. "We have no doubt that a clearly provocative act was carried out by Japan toward a friendly nation's naval vessel and strongly condemn that action."

General Seo speaking for the Defense Ministry said, "Even though we have requested Japan to take preventative measures" to keep this from happening again, a low menacing approach was taken toward a friendly naval vessel in a clearly provocative manner. Further, "If this happens again, our military will respond strongly according to our military code for responsive measures."

Channel A News Top Ten analysts referred to the Japanese maneuvers as a "game of chicken." They speculated that it appeared as a result of North Korean and Chinese security challenges, the strengthening military position of Japan with allied powers such as the US, UK, France, and Australia, makes Japan secure in its position and leaves South Korea relatively isolated. Japan's maritime and territorial issues pending with China and Russia, US rivals, left Korea to deal with Japanese actions and claims on their own. The Channel A analysts wondered if these incidents were an indication of Japanese intent to continue with its provocative and hazardous maritime patrol maneuvers.