South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has instructed the Navy to sternly deal with the repeated low-altitude flybys by Japanese warplanes.

The Defense Ministry said in a release that Jeong issued the order on Saturday during his unscheduled visit to the Fleet Command in the southern port city of Busan, calling the recent low-altitude flybys by Japan as "a serious provocation by an ally."

Minister Jeong strongly denounced Japan for its multiple flybys, defining them as "very threatening behavior that no navy of any country can tolerate."

While encouraging and praising the South Korean Navy for its calm and cool-headed responses to the recent flybys by Japanese warplanes, the defense chief condemned the ally for not admitting to its actions and making false accusations against Korea, calling them "preposterous words and deeds."

South Korea and Japan are embroiled in a military spat after Tokyo accused a Korean warship of locking its fire-control radar on its patrol aircraft on December 20th last year. Seoul has refuted the claim and said the warship was on a rescue mission to save a North Korean ship.