Refuel row: Japan rescinds airbase access to South Korean jets over Dokdo islets dispute
Observers say the move reflects how tenuous attempts to build security ties between the two countries remain
The now-scrapped refuelling operation would have seen South Korea’s Black Eagles aerobatic team stop over at Naha Air Base in Okinawa en route to an air show in Dubai in early November.
But the plan was dropped after Japan’s government learned the unit had conducted training flights in October around the Dokdo islets – rocky outcrops off the Korean peninsula’s east coast that are administered by South Korea but have been claimed by Tokyo since the end of World War II.
Japan refers to the islands as Takeshima and regards them as part of Shimane Prefecture, about 220km (137 miles) to the south.
The refuelling stop would have marked the first time South Korean military aircraft had used a Japanese base and was intended as a gesture of growing defence cooperation, according to a report by the Yomiuri newspaper on Monday.