Photo/Illutration Defense Ministry officials claim a plane similar to this Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft was targeted for a fire-control radar lock-on by a South Korean naval vessel. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A retired South Korean Army general has confirmed that his nation's military compiled guidelines that specifically targeted Self-Defense Forces aircraft considered to be flying too close to South Korean naval vessels.

Shin Won-shik told The Asahi Shimbun on Aug. 18 that he had received a report from National Defense Ministry officials about the guidelines, which were compiled in February 2019.

“It is very dangerous,” Shin said of the directive. “It is inappropriate to implement strict measures only against Japan.”

Shin once held a high post in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is now a National Assembly member of the ruling party.

National Defense Ministry officials also told Shin they are now considering abolishing the guidelines.

Tokyo has claimed that in late 2018, a South Korean destroyer locked its fire-control radar on a Maritime SDF patrol aircraft. Seoul denied it occurred and accused the MSDF pilot of flying dangerously low near the destroyer.

Under the guidelines from 2019, any SDF plane approaching a South Korean vessel in open waters was to be given two warnings by radio. If the plane ignored the warnings and continued to fly too close, South Korean Navy officers were told to lock their fire-control radar on the aircraft.

The directive was intended only for SDF aircraft, but actual decisions about whether to use the fire-control radar were left up to local commanders.

The guidelines were made much stricter than the South Korean military's proposal, per instructions from the South Korean presidential office, the South Korean daily, JoongAng Ilbo, reported on Aug. 18, based on “government sources.”

Moon Jae-in was president at the time, which saw bilateral relations worsen for several reasons, including lawsuits seeking compensation from Japanese companies for their use of wartime Korean laborers.

The incident in late 2018 led the two sides to accuse the other of recklessness and hurt defense cooperation between Japan and South Korea.

It now turns out the guidelines were compiled amid that tense atmosphere.

Defense Ministry officials are still unhappy about the 2018 incident, with one source saying, “It will be difficult for there to be cooperation among the defense units of the two nations without work to prevent a recurrence.”

With the new administration of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol now in place, “a decision to abolish the guidelines might be an attempt to show Japan it is different from the previous administration,” said one high-ranking Defense Ministry official. “But we cannot know for certain until we observe further developments.”

(This article was written by Takuya Suzuki in Seoul and Naoki Matsuyama in Tokyo.)

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