Related: Japan to withdraw survey plan in disputed waters

    TOKYO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Two Japan Coast Guard survey ships left for Tokyo on Sunday morning a day after Japan agreed with South Korea to drop its plan to carry out a maritime survey near a group of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan, Kyodo News reported.

    After two days of senior-level talks in Seoul, Japan and South Korea defused a tense high-sea standoff Saturday with a compromise that sees Japan withdraw plans to survey disputed waters and South Korea delay efforts to register Korean names for underwater features in the area.

    Japan Coast Guard maritime survey vessels left port in Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast on Wednesday afternoon with an assignment of creating a hydrographic map, but never carried out their work in response to South Korea's strong protests.

    The area targeted lies within Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but also includes an area claimed by South Korea as its, as the two countries have not clearly set their EEZ border, Kyodo said.

    There in the overlapped EEZ are disputed islets, known as Dokdoin Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

    The Japanese government claims the intended survey comes in response to South Korea's move to propose naming the seafloor topography of the area in question during an upcoming international conference in June. Enditem