The South Korean military carried out a drill to deter trespassers on its easternmost islets of Dokdo on Monday, the Defense Ministry said.

The drill began earlier in the day on the rocky outcroppings in the East Sea and in its surrounding waters with an aim to repel non-military forces that approach the islets via a sea or air route, according to the ministry.

The exercise involved Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard officers, as well as around six destroyers and convoys, fighters and patrol planes, according to ministry officials.

“It is our military exercise that has been carried out on a regular basis,” a ministry official said. “A scheduled landing training exercise by a squad of Marines from a UH-60 helicopter will be carried out later in the day in consideration of weather conditions.”

The exercise has been carried out twice a year since 1986, with the last one taking place May 30, despite protests from Japan, which has long laid claim to Dokdo, stoking enmity in South Korea toward its former colonial ruler.

South Korea says such claims are tantamount to Japan’s denial of Korea’s independence from its 1910-45 colonial rule, as Seoul reclaimed sovereignty over all of its territory ― including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula ― upon its independence.

“As you are well aware, the Dokdo defense drill is our annual, standard exercise in terms of sovereignty to protect our own territory of Dokdo from outside forces,” defense ministry vice spokesman Wi Yong-seop told a regular briefing, adding no complaints from any neighboring countries have been received against the exercise this time. (Yonhap)