Japan, S. Korea remain divided over radar lock-on

January 15, 2019

Seoul--Japan and South Korea have failed to narrow their differences over an incident last month in which a South Korean warship allegedly directed a fire-control radar at a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol plane.

Working-level defense officials from the two countries discussed the issue in Singapore on Monday, according to the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.

"The two sides were unable to bridge their gap over the incident," a senior Japanese Defense Ministry official said.

The working-level officials met at the South Korean embassy in the Southeast Asian country in the morning and at the Japanese embassy in the afternoon.

Japan has claimed that the South Korean navy's Gwanggaeto-daewang class destroyer locked a fire-control radar on the P-1 patrol plane of the MSDF in the Japanese exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan on Dec. 20. But the South Korean side has rejected the claim.

Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya earlier this month suggested the country's readiness to exchange the MSDF's records on radar wave interception over the case with records held by the South Korean side in bilateral working-level talks.

The Japanese side may have submitted such data to South Korea at Monday's meeting, sources familiar with the matter said. But a source in the Japanese ministry declined comment, noting that the bilateral discussions are still under way.

The schedule for the next working-level meeting has yet to be fixed, according to the source.

Meanwhile, the South Korean ministry said that the two countries increased mutual understanding by detailing their respective positions over major issues of contention, such as a low-altitude flight by the MSDF aircraft during the incident.

But a source in the South Korean military told local media that Japan, while failing to disclose its data, demanded that part of the Japanese data and all of related radar data held by the South Korea side be exchanged.

This was the second Japan-South Korea working-level talks on the radar lock-on issue. The first such talks were held on Dec. 27, through a teleconference.

Tokyo and Seoul chose Singapore as the venue of the second talks apparently in order to prevent it from attracting too much attention at a time when the two sides remain sharply at odds over the issue, informed sources said. Jiji Press