South Korean police said Monday they have stepped up security on the country’s easternmost islets of Dokdo to cope with potential landing by Japanese right-wing activists to reinforce their country’s claims to Dokdo and other incidents.

Following the unprecedented visit by President Lee Myung-bak to Dokdo in the East Sea earlier this month, Tokyo has voiced its claims to the cluster of rocky outcroppings, threatening to take the issue of Dokdo to the International Court of Justice.

“An order has been given as of last week to reinforce security measures on Dokdo as tensions with Japan over the islets intensified,” Kim Ki-yong, a commissioner of the National Police Agency, told reporters.

A weekly security drill, aimed at blocking potential illegal visits of right-wing Japanese civic groups to Dokdo, has been increased to once a day, the NPA said, adding that they have deployed an additional number of police officers for surveillance duty.

Police officers stationed on Ulleung, an island 90 kilometers from Dokdo, will immediately offer assistance if conservative Japanese activists attempt to make visits to the adjacent islets, the NPA said.

Also, the activists will be apprehended and handed over to the South Korean maritime police if they enter the East Sea islands, in accordance with the country’s immigration law, they added. (Yonhap News)