This essay examines the December 2018 fire-control radar lock-on incident by the South Korean Navy and the subsequent response by the Korean government.
It analyzes the calm and rule-based conduct of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the manipulation in the edited Korean video footage, and the broader political pattern similar to the comfort women issue—where repeated claims are used to pressure Japan into apology and concessions.

2019-02-06

In Korea, where a lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth, just as with the comfort women issue, if they continue to insist that “Japan must apologize” regarding the radar lock-on incident, pro-Korean forces within Japan will inevitably begin launching various criticisms of Japan.

The following continues from the previous chapter.

◎The Outrage of the Radar Lock-On

The fire-control radar lock-on incident that occurred on December 20 and the subsequent response by South Korea reveal everything about the history of that country and the deterioration of Japan–Korea relations.
Such radar illumination essentially means a missile lock-on state, and if a missile were actually fired, it could directly lead to the “death” of the crew.
Even in such a tense situation, I am astonished by the calm behavior of the Self-Defense Force personnel and the content of their exchanges in the released footage.
The 13-minute and 7-second video released by the Ministry of Defense on December 28 contains the voices of the Self-Defense Forces calling out in English six times while conducting confirmation procedures.
“Korean Naval Ship. Korean Naval Ship.”
“Hull Number 971. Hull Number 971.”
“This is Japan Navy. This is Japan Navy.”
“We observed that your FC antenna is directed to us.”
“What is the purpose of your act? Over.”
These calls were properly made in accordance with international rules and also in compliance with the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), agreed upon in 2014 by 21 countries including South Korea.
However, the video released by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense on January 4 had been edited in an extremely manipulative manner.
The actual voice of the Self-Defense Forces is played for only about ten seconds, repeating “This is Japan Navy,” “Korean Naval Ship,” and “Hull Number 971” twice, while the rest is merely unnecessary background music.
The decisive audio—“We observed that your FC antenna is directed to us” and “What is the purpose of your act?”—which should clearly have been audible, was cut out.
Most of the footage was also simply quotations from the video released by Japan.
Even in the roughly ten seconds of footage filmed by the Korean side, only a North Korean fishing boat drifting near the destroyer and a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft flying far away in the sky appeared like tiny dots, providing no evidence whatsoever of Japan’s alleged “low-altitude threatening flight.”
No matter how much seriousness is dramatized with movie-like background music, not a single problem on the side of the Japanese patrol aircraft emerges.

◎Lies No Longer Work

Moreover, even though the fire-control radar illumination is so clear, South Korea’s defining characteristic is that it still demands an apology from Japan.
“Japan conducted a low-altitude threatening flight against our ship while it was engaged in humanitarian rescue operations. Apologize.”
This statement finally caused the anger of the Japanese people to explode.
That is because it overlaps with the behavior of Koreans who, using the claim of “forced recruitment” that never existed, are erecting comfort woman statues all over the world.
Due to erroneous reporting by Asahi Shimbun, it is believed in South Korea that there were “200,000” victims of forced recruitment as comfort women.
In Korea, where a lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth, just as with the comfort women issue, they believe that if they continue to insist “Japan must apologize” regarding the radar lock-on incident, pro-Korean forces within Japan will launch various criticisms of Japan and eventually Japan will concede.
In fact, influential Liberal Democratic Party politicians belonging to the Japan–Korea Parliamentarians’ League, deeply immersed in Korean interests, are whispering things like “Let us return to the 1998 Japan–Korea Partnership Declaration” and “If the current leftist government falls, things will return to normal,” while actively lobbying the Abe administration toward a settlement based on Japanese concessions.
I am reminded of the Seoul subway incident that came to light in 1977.
In that case, enormous sums of money flowed back to influential LDP politicians via American banks and the Tokyo branches of Korean banks, and the incident later became the foundation of the vested-interest structure of the Japan–Korea Parliamentarians’ League.
For Japanese companies to conduct business in South Korea, they must have members of the Japan–Korea Parliamentarians’ League speak to the Korean government or local administrations on their behalf, making membership in the league an enormous advantage for politicians.
But for the sake of such politicians, how long must the Japanese people continue to endure such unreasonable treatment?
(To be continued.)