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LEAD: Seoul urges Tokyo to immediately drop maritime survey plan+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SEOUL, April 19_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING) South Korean Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki Moon said Wednesday that South Korea demands Japan immediately retract a plan to conduct a maritime survey near a group of disputed isles in the Sea of Japan and settle the issue diplomatically. "If Japan goes ahead with the survey, South Korea will deal with sternly in accordance with international law and domestic law," Ban said after a high-security meeting convened by President Roh Moo Hyun. "The Japanese government will be held responsible for any consequences that may arise from its act," he told reporters. Roh convened the meeting of ministers in charge of foreign and security affairs in response to Japan's dispatch of two Japan Coast Guard vessels for the survey near waters of the South-Korean controlled islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. South Korea's coast guard said it has deployed patrol vessels near the isles in response to the Japanese move. Japan, which also claims the islets, had initially planned to launch the survey as early as Thursday, but it is expected to delay it to around late April in response to South Korean protests. The Japanese government says the survey is intended to investigate the seafloor topography ahead of an international conference related to the appellation of seafloor topography in June. It comes in response to South Korea's move to propose naming the seafloor topography of the area in question during the conference. Dokdo consists of two small islets with a total area of 0.23 square kilometer. South Korea's coast guard has stationed personnel on the larger islet since 1954. Bilateral relations have deteriorated since a Japanese local assembly in March last year approved an ordinance designating Feb. 22 as "Takeshima Day" to press Japan's claims to the islets, the seas around which are rich fishing grounds for crab, squid and mackerel. |