Participation in Naval Review Amid 'Rising Sun Flag Controversy'... Soyangham to Enter Japan Today

Main Event of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Fleet Review on the 6th
Multinational Training on the 7th, Return to Port on the 10th

Navy Logistics Support Ship Soyang [Photo by Navy]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] A South Korean naval vessel participating in the international fleet review commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's establishment will arrive in Japan on the 1st.

According to the Navy, the latest logistics support ship Soyang (11,000-ton class), which departed Jinhae Port on the 29th of last month, will dock at Yokosuka Port, Japan, around noon on this day. The Soyang's crew of 137, led by a colonel as captain, will prepare for the main fleet review event. Considering the national mourning period, the originally planned friendly exchange events with other countries' navies will not be attended.

Following the main fleet review event on the 6th, the Soyang is scheduled to participate in a humanitarian search and rescue exercise (SAREX) for distressed and fire-affected vessels in the Tokyo Bay area on the 6th and 7th, and then return home around the 10th. South Korea and Japan have conducted SAREX since 1999 but suspended it from 2017. South Korea also conducted SAREX with Japan when participating in the Japanese fleet review in 2015.

In addition to South Korea and Japan, 13 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei are participating in this SAREX. Thirty ships from these participating countries, along with P-3C maritime patrol aircraft, will join. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s US-2, a four-engine turboprop amphibious aircraft known for its strength in rescue missions, will also be deployed in the exercise.

Following SAREX, Chief of Naval Operations Lee Jong-ho will attend the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) held on the 7th and 8th. WPNS includes over 30 countries, including China and the fleet review participants, and will discuss issues such as updating the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) to reduce the possibility of collisions in the overlapping maritime zones around the Korean Peninsula.

Previously, South Korea dispatched the destroyer Gwanggaeto the Great in 2002 and the destroyer Dae Jo-yeong in 2015 to the Japanese fleet review, while Japan participated in South Korea’s fleet reviews in 1998 and 2008.

The decision to dispatch a logistics support ship instead of a combat vessel this time is interpreted as an intention to avoid showing South Korean combat crew members saluting the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force flag, which is considered similar to the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Rising Sun Flag during the Pacific War, during the highlight of the fleet review, the gun salute.

South Korea invited Japan to the 2018 Jeju International Fleet Review, but Japan did not comply with South Korea’s request to use the national flag instead of the Maritime Self-Defense Force flag, and participation did not materialize.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.