Seoul, May 31 (QNA) - South Korea and Japan will resume their joint maritime search and rescue exercises (SAREX) starting early next month, Seoul's defense chief said Saturday, calling it a "symbolic" move that reflects improving bilateral relations.

South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back announced the plan during bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi, held on the margins of the Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue.

"The SAREX drills will take place on June 7," South Korea's (Yonhap) news agency quoted the defense minister as saying in the opening remarks. "I believe the resumption of the drills after nine years carries a highly symbolic and declaratory meaning."

The drills will be conducted jointly with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force in international waters southeast of Jeju Island, South Korea's Navy said in a separate release.

The exercise will involve its 4,900-ton ROKS Cheon Ja Bong landing ship, Japan's 7,250-ton Aegis-equipped Kongo destroyer and a Japanese maritime patrol helicopter, it added.

Launched in 1999, the biennial SAREX exercise was designed to train procedures for coordinated responses between naval ships from both countries in the event of maritime incidents in waters near the Korean Peninsula.

But the drills have been suspended since the 10th round in 2017, as bilateral ties soured following a dispute over a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft making an unusually low-altitude flyby over a South Korean warship in December 2018.

Seoul had decried the plane's approach as a "menacing" flight, while Tokyo accused the South Korean vessel of having locked its fire-control radar on the plane.

The two countries agreed to prevent a recurrence of such a spat during defense ministers' talks in June 2024 under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government amid a dramatic warming of bilateral relations. (QNA)