국방부, 일본 레이더 반박 영상 공개, 저공위협비행에 사과해야
South Korea and Japan are currently locked in a dispute after Tokyo claimed that a South Korean warship used targeting radar to lock on to a Japanese patrol plane late last year.
After Tokyo unveiled an edited video recording of the incidient, Seoul's defense ministry also released its own video last Friday in a move to counter Japan's claims.
Park Ji-won has the details.
South Korea's Ministry of National Defense released the video on its official YouTube account Friday afternoon.
In the video, the Republic of Korea Navy asks Japan why,... in international waters, where another country's warship is engaged in the humanitarian rescue of a ship in distress,... it would send a patrol aircraft on threatening low-altitude flight in the first place.
The video says the Japanese plane approached the South Korean destroyer from a distance of just 500 meters and an altitude of just 150 meters.
The ship's crew said they heard a loud noise and felt strong vibrations due to the flight, which they said was menacing and threatening.
A video released by Japan last week showed that the Japanese plane recognized that the South Korean ship was on a rescue mission, but the South Korean video said the plane nonetheless continued its unprofessional and aggressive flight at a very close distance.
A military aircraft, it said, should not conduct such a low-altitude flight near a foreign warship because it could cause accidental clashes.
Also, Japan had claimed the plane followed internationally-agreed rules when it came to the flight's altitude.
For that claim, Japan quoted regulations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
However, the South Korean defense ministry pointed out that Article Three of the Convention clearly states that the agreement applies "ONLY TO" civil aircraft, and NOT to state-operated aircraft, which includes those used by military, customs and police services.
So the video points out that Japan is interpreting an international agreement in an arbitrary way to justify its false claim.
South Korea also, once again, stressed that its warship did not lock on to the plane using its fire-control radar.
Rather it used only search radars for humanitarian purposes.
The defense ministry's video pointed out, based on Japan's own video, that the Japanese pilots knew the ship's guns were not pointed at them, and knew the South Korean ship had no intention of attacking.
Lastly, the video says communications from the Japanese plane were extremely unclear because of loud noises.
The video included actual sound recordings from the ship showing the messages were very hard to understand.
The defense ministry stressed once again that the South Korean Navy had no intention of threatening the Japanese plane,... saying that if Japan has any evidence of radar frequency, then it should provide it at working-level meetings.
South Korean ministry also asked Japan to apologize for its aggressive low-altitude flight,...
