Japan won't protest S Korea's new air zone  

South Korea's Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok speaks during a press conference for an expanded KADIZ at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, South Korea, Dec 8, 2013. South Korea decided to expand its air defense identification zone (KADIZ) southward, Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a televised press briefing on Sunday. (Xinhua/Park Jin-hee)

(ECNS) -- Tokyo on Monday cautiously endorsed South Korea's expanded air defense identification zone (KADIZ), according to Japanese news portal ribenxinwen.com.

On Sunday, South Korea announced its new KADIZ, which included the nation's two southernmost islands of Marado and Hongdo, as well as Suyan Rock, a submerged reef within the overlapping economic zones of China and South Korea, and said it would take effect on Dec 15.

It was reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe consulted with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and Chief of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff Shigeru Iwasaki, and they believe South Korea's new KADIZ is not going to be a problem for Japan, so they will not protest it.