S Korea starts sea survey near disputed isles

Seoul, Jul 3: A South Korean ship has left port to conduct a maritime survey near islands at the centre of a long-simmering territorial dispute with Japan, a South Korean official said today.

South Korea and Japan came close to a high-seas showdown in April when Tokyo said it planned a survey in waters near the desolate outcrop of islands, called Tokto in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, before the two cooled tension through diplomacy.

The islands sit in rich fishing grounds, and Seoul's state gas firm says they lie above unexploited gas hydrate deposits potentially worth billions of dollars.

The South Korean ship with about 20 aboard left port on Sunday night and is scheduled to conduct its survey through mid-July, taking it near the islands located about the same distance from the mainland of South Korea and Japan.

Tokyo has already objected and said it may now go ahead with its own maritime survey, Japanese media reported.

''It is the basic right and prerogative of this country to conduct any scientific research within our exclusive economic zone area,'' a South Korean government official said.

South korea maintains a police presence on the islands and effectively controls them.

REUTERS