South Korea on Monday began two days of war games to practise defending the disputed Dokdo islands off its east coast — against an unlikely attack by Japan. The drills come just days after President Donald Trump announced the suspension of long-running US joint exercises with South Korea — aimed at deterring North Korea — calling them expensive and “provocative”. The two-day exercise — tiny compared with the suspended US-South Korea war games — will involve six warships and seven aircraft and had begun, Seoul’s defence ministry said. A unit of marines will land on the largely barren rocky islets, inhabited by around 40 people — mostly police officers. “The Dokdo defence drill is a routine training conducted to prevent an invasion from external forces,” said Choi Hyun-soo, a spokeswoman at Seoul’s defence ministry. Tokyo reacted angrily to the “extremely deplorable” drills, with the foreign ministry saying it had “strongly protested” via the usual diplomatic channels. It said the exercises were “absolutely unacceptable” and strongly demanded their suspension. Published in Daily Times, June 19th 2018.