South Korea’s defense ministry on Saturday denied a Japanese newspaper report claiming that it had lodged additional protests over a Japanese military plane‘s low-altitude flyby of a South Korean naval ship.

Earlier, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported that South Korea lodged protests with Japan between late January and early February over a Japanese maritime patrol plane’s threatening flyby. 

However, the South Korean defense ministry said that such a report is not true, adding that it has not filed a complaint against Japan since Jan. 23, when a Japanese P-1 maritime patrol plane buzzed by South Korea‘s 4,500-ton destroyer Daejoyeong at an altitude of 60 to 70 meters.

“There were no flybys from a Japanese patrol aircraft after Jan. 23,” a defense ministry official said. “Therefore, there were no protests against Japan.”

Using a source from the South Korean military, Ashai Shimbun said that a Japanese patrol plane had conducted a low-altitude flyby of a South Korean naval ship like the previous incident on Jan. 23, and South Korea later condemned it as a “provocative act.”

But the newspaper didn’t specify the date of the additional flyby. (Yonhap)