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On Jan. 4, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) uploaded a video on YouTube regarding a Japanese patrol plane’s approach to South Korean destroyer Gwanggaeteo the Great during a rescue operation of a North Korean fishing boat, describing the plane’s flyby as a” threatening low-altitude flight.” (MND YouTube page)
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YouTube video characterizes plane’s approach as “threatening low-altitude flight”
On Jan. 4, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) released a video in which a Japanese patrol plane’s approach to South Korean destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great while it was performing a rescue operation is characterized as a “threatening low-altitude flight” and in which Japan is asked to apologize. Seoul has taken issue with the patrol plane’s “ungentlemanly conduct” while rebutting the Japanese government’s argument that Gwanggaeto the Great aimed its fire control radar at the patrol plane. At 2 pm on Friday, the MND posted a video, 4 minutes and 26 seconds in length, to YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGWO4Kdk5j0) titled “The Position of the Republic of Korea Regarding False Claims and the Threatening Low-Altitude Flight by the Japanese Maritime Patrol Plane.” “We published this video with the goal of presenting the actual facts because the Japanese government has been unilaterally releasing videos in Japanese and English that have been misrepresenting the facts to netizens around the world,” MND spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo explained in a press conference held shortly after the video was posted. The video begins with the subtitle, “Japan needs to apologize for interrupting a humanitarian rescue operation and to immediately stop distorting the facts.” The video shows the Japanese patrol plane approaching Gwanggaeto the Great while it is performing the rescue operation. This video was shot from the Sambong, a South Korean coast guard ship that was taking part in the rescue operation with Gwanggaeto the Great. “Why did the Japanese patrol plane fly at a threatening low altitude at the scene of a humanitarian rescue operation?” the MND asked. The video continues with footage from the patrol plane that was made public by the Japanese government. “The Japanese patrol plane approached Gwanggaeto the Great at a threatening low altitude ranging from 150m to 500m. The plane interfered with a humanitarian operation with its ungentlemanly conduct despite awareness that this was a rescue situation,” the MND contended. The subtitles explain that the patrol plane’s flyby caused “noise and vibration that were perceptible to the ship’s crew. The MND’s video also emphasized that the Japanese patrol plane’s threatening low-altitude flight was in violation of international law. The Japanese Ministry of Defense asserted on its website that the patrol plane’s flight didn’t violate the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Convention on International Civil Aviation because it maintained an altitude of at least 150m, but South Korea’s Defense Ministry disputed this reading of the law: “The International Civil Aviation Organization has specified that this convention does not apply to military aircraft. Armed military aircraft aren’t allowed to make a threatening low-altitude approach to another country’s naval vessels because of the possibility of an unexpected clash.” “Gwanggaeto didn’t activate its fire control radar. The Japanese patrol plane also confirmed that there was no intention of firing, since its crew remarked that the ship guns weren’t facing it,” the MND also said in the video. The video went on to emphasize that the patrol plane didn’t engage in evasive maneuvers because it had been aware that Gwanggaeto the Great had no intention of attacking. The MND is planning to post versions of the video in English and other languages to YouTube after it’s translated. After footage taken by the patrol plane was released on Dec. 28, Japan posted a separately produced English-language video to YouTube. “Japan needs to stop distorting the facts and apologize for making a threatening low-altitude flight by a South Korean vessel that was in the middle of a humanitarian rescue operation,” Choi said. By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
