Tokyo  - Japan flouted the protests of South Korea on Wednesday and sent two ships to begin a maritime survey near disputed islands between the two nations. The underlying idea is to raise the stakes in the territorial standoff.

It is also reported that South Korea earlier to that dispatched an armed military craft of patrol boats to guard the territory, held by Seoul.

Two Japanese survey vessels left Sakaiminato on Wednesday, headed for the islands, said Yuzuru Kubota, a coast guard official in the port city on Japan's west coast as per Joseph Coleman from AP.

But he said the ships were lingering just beyond the bay and were not steaming immediately toward the survey area. Japan has refused to provide a schedule, news reports said the survey could start as soon as Thursday, the report adds.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon warned Japan not to go ahead, saying his country - which has long protested Japan's repeated claims to the islets - was preparing for "all scenarios" in the dispute.

South Korean local media have reported that Seoul may try to capture Japanese vessels entering disputed waters.

"If Japan pushes ahead ... we will react sternly to it in accordance with international and domestic laws," Ban told a nationally televised news conference. "The responsibility for all problems caused by this lies with Japan."

"The government is preparing countermeasures for all scenarios," Ban said without elaborating. He spoke after President Roh Moo-hyun held a sudden meeting with security ministers to discuss the dispute.

Later in the day, the South Korean parliament approved a resolution calling for a halt to the survey, AP reports.