South Korea’s military denied it declined to participate in air drills with the U.S. and Japan last week, following a news report suggesting a territorial dispute with Tokyo led Seoul to skip a planned trilateral exercise on deterring North Korean threats.

The U.S.-Japan air exercise conducted Feb. 16 and 18 was unrelated to South Korea’s military, Defense Ministry spokeswoman Chung Bin-na said during a press briefing shortly after the Chosun Ilbo report was published Monday.

“The report is not true, and we plan to file a complaint with the Press Arbitration Commission,” she said.

Citing a ministry official, the newspaper