South Korea's Marine Corps Command plans to station a combat unit on the eastern island of Ulleung from 2018 in a bid to help deal with North Korea's military threats, the military command said in a report to parliament on Tuesday.
The plan appears to also be aimed at better coping with South Korea's territorial dispute with Japan over Dokdo, a pair of islets lying 80 km southeast of Ulleung. The islets are known as Takeshima in Japan.
The command said in the report the troops will be stationed at the island on a rotational basis.
The Yonhap news agency said the operational territory of the marine unit at Ulleung Island will include the Dokdo islets. The marines based on Ulleung will be prepared to land at Dokdo in the event that any foreign forces attempt to invade the islets, the report said.