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 about six destroyers and convoys, fighter jets and patrol planes, according to ministry officials. 
  
"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.
   
A squad of Marines had planned to carry out a landing training exercise from its UH-60 helicopter, but it was canceled due to bad weather conditions, according to the ministry.
   
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. 
   
"No complaints from any neighboring countries have been received against the exercise this time so far," Wi said.
   
South Korea says Japan's territorial claims to Dokdo are tantamount to its 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. (Yonhap)