Tokyo demanded Wednesday that Seoul halt the marine study being conducted by a South Korean vessel near a pair of disputed islets under the South's control in the Sea of Japan in an area Tokyo claims as part of its exclusive economic zone.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi summoned South Korean Ambassador to Japan Ra Jong Yil to deliver the protest after the Japan Coast Guard confirmed that around 6:40 a.m., the South Korean ship was in the disputed EEZ about 45 km west-northwest of the South Korean-controlled and occupied islets, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The survey ship left the disputed waters at 9:08 p.m., a JCG official said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'We advised –

. . . that this is a rightful exercise of our sovereignty. Thus we are unable to accept any protest or complaints from the Japanese government," Ra told reporters after the meeting.

Ra said he urged Japan to exercise "restraint" to keep relations from deteriorating further, alluding to Tokyo's plan to conduct a marine study where the countries' EEZ claims overlap.

According to a Foreign Ministry official, Ra was referring to the possibility that Japanese patrol boats may try to obstruct the South Korean survey.

Yachi told Ra it is "extremely regrettable" that South Korea launched the survey despite Japan's repeated requests not to do so, and proposed negotiations to arrange for each side to notify the other of scientific studies in disputed waters, the officials said.