S. Korea holds regular defense drills around Dokdo: source

South Korea conducted regular defense drills near its easternmost islets of Dokdo on Wednesday, a military source said, marking the fifth of its kind under the current Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The biannual drills took place in waters near the pair of rocky islets in the East Sea at a similar scale as the previous year, the source said, declining to provide details. Navy and Coast Guard vessels took part in the exercise last December without the participation of Marines. Some of the drills in the past involved fighter jets and landing maneuvers on the islets, but they have taken place at a relatively smaller scale under the current administration. Dokdo has long been a recurring source of tension between South Korea and Japan, as Tokyo continues to make sovereignty claims in its policy papers, public statements and school textbooks. South Korea has been in effective control of Dokdo, with a small police detachment, since its liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. In response to the drills l ast December, Tokyo lodged a protest through diplomatic channels, which Seoul dismissed. The latest drills came as ties between the Asian neighbors have significantly warmed recently as they seek to bolster three-way security cooperation with their shared ally, the United States, amid growing security threats posed by North Korea. South Korea launched the defense drills in 1986 and has staged them twice a year since 2003. Source: Yonhap News Agency