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Seoul hits back at Japan's claim in radar dispute

By Wooyoung Lee
This photo capture from YouTube on Monday shows the Chinese language version of the defense ministry's video rebutting Japan's claim that a South Korean destroyer had locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol aircraft. Seoul denied the allegations and counter-accused that the Japanese plane flew at a threateningly low altitude near the destroyer. Photo by Yonhap
This photo capture from YouTube on Monday shows the Chinese language version of the defense ministry's video rebutting Japan's claim that a South Korean destroyer had locked its fire-control radar on a Japanese patrol aircraft. Seoul denied the allegations and counter-accused that the Japanese plane flew at a threateningly low altitude near the destroyer. Photo by Yonhap

SEOUL, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- As tensions rise between South Korea and Japan over a dispute involving a Japanese aircraft and a South Korean naval ship, Seoul's defense ministry hit back Tuesday at remarks by Japanese lawmakers over South Korea's alleged use of radar.

Japanese lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party reportedly said Monday that the South Korean warship might have contacted North Korea in secret, which violates U.N. sanctions against the North. It tried to fend off the Japanese aircraft that spotted the secret encounter by using fire-control radar, according to Joongang Ilbo.

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The lawmakers called South Korea's rebuttal over the alleged radar use "lies" and suggested they release another video in multiple languages against South Korea's recent video release to counter Japan's claim, at a defense discussion meeting.

The South Korean Defense Ministry released Monday a video of the scene with subtitles in English and Korean to prove its rescue operation for a North Korean fishing vessel and added five more languages, including Russian, French and Spanish on Tuesday.

"We don't rebut the false claim and don't think it's worth to do so," Choi Hyun-soo, spokesperson of South Korea's Defense Ministry, said at a briefing Tuesday.

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"Our position is clear. We were on a humanitarian operation to rescue a drifting North Korean fishing boat, and we never targeted the Japanese aircraft with radar," Choi said.

Last month, Japan claimed that the South Korean destroyer locked its fire-control radar on the Japanese P-1 patrol plane and further released a video record of the scene.

Seoul hit back at Japan's claim, saying that the Japanese aircraft made an unusually close approach to the South Korean warship in a "threatening manner."

"We have never seen any allied aircraft approach so close and in a threatening manner to our warship before," said Choi.

The Japanese patrol plane flew as low as 492 feet above the South Korean warship and approached 1,640 feet in distance, according to the Seoul's Defense Ministry.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said that the country is working on a manual to use in similar situations in the future, according to JCS spokesman Kim Ju-rak.

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