By Yoo Dong-ho
Staff Reporter

The Seoul government on Tuesday threatened to seize a Japanese boat carrying four Japanese ultra-right group members, if it violates the maritime border and approaches the South Korean Tokto islets in the East Sea.

The maritime police was put on alert to watch out for the Japanese boat, reportedly on its way, and make a landing to protest the South Korean’s claim to the easternmost islets, government officials said.

They mobilized a number of warships and aircrafts to force back the Japanese boat, warning that any intruders would be dealt with sternly according to Korean laws.

The move came in response to Tokyo’s notification that the Japanese rightist group plans to stage a demonstration on the islets, which lie midway between the Korean peninsula and Japan.

``We hope the Japanese government will block them in their territorial waters before the situation goes awry,’’ a ministry official at Seoul’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, said. He said, however, that the Japanese group may not go through with its plan and will turn their way back due to bad weather conditions.

Seoul has a pier on the bigger of the two islets and stations a small detachment of police officers there.

The latest incident may be feared to deepen the Seoul-Tokyo diplomatic rift, as has been shown in the Sino-Japanese confrontation over Senkaku _ a group of small islands 140 kilometers northeast of Taiwan, analysts said.

Tension over Tokto, which has rich fishing grounds, rose in January after South Korea printed the stamps featuring Tokto.

Seoul ignored an official Japanese protest over Seoul’s issuance of the stamps aimed at enhancing public recognition of the native environment of the islets.

Although the islets are under Korean control, Japanese authorities including Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have constantly claimed sovereignty over them in an apparent bid to attract international attention, said a government official.

yoodh@koreatimes.co.kr