SEOUL– South Korea will join Japan’s international fleet review next month, the defense ministry announced Thursday, in what would be its first participation in the controversial event in seven years.
The decision to join the Nov. 6 event in Sagami Bay off Tokyo came as Seoul considered the “security implications” of its participation amid tensions caused by a recent series of North Korean provocations, according to the ministry. South Korea has sought to bolster trilateral security partnerships with the United States and Japan to counter growing military threats from North Korea.
The Navy’s move comes despite public controversies here over the planned review, where the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is to hoist the Rising Sun Flag viewed by many Koreans as a symbol of Japan’s imperialist past.
It plans to send the 10,000-ton logistics support ship Soyang to the review. The ship plans to depart from Jinhae, 410 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday and enter a port in Yokosuka, Japan, on Tuesday.
“The defense ministry would like to emphasize we considered with the utmost priority the security implications of our Navy’s participation, given the grave security situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula, which was caused by the recent series of North Korea’s provocations,” the ministry said in a press release.
Regarding the fleet review, there has been a heated debate pitting those in support of closer security coordination between the two countries and those decrying the contentious JMSDF flag as a sign of Japan’s unwillingness to fully atone for its past militarism.
Following the review, the Navy ship Soyang is set to join a multinational search and rescue exercise through Nov. 7. The exercise will bring together service members from the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Canada and other countries, according to a Seoul official.
The South Korean Navy participated in Japan’s fleet review in 2002 and 2015, while the JMSDF joined the South’s fleet review in 1998 and 2008.
Since 2018, when tensions between Seoul and Tokyo rose over historical and other disputes, the two sides have not participated in each other’s fleet reviews.
Earlier in the day, a senior Seoul official told Yonhap News Agency the presidential National Security Council made a tentative decision earlier in the day to join the fleet review.
The fleet review will commemorate the 70th founding anniversary of the JMSDF.
Source: Yonhap News Agency