By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) – South Korea and Japan agreed on Friday to resume bilateral naval search and rescue drills after a nine-year break, officials said.
The agreement was reached during a meeting between South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi.
Koizumi hosted Ahn in his hometown of Yokosuka, a port city in Japan.
The agreement is “part of efforts to promote military exchange,” said the South Korean Defense Ministry, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News.
“Both ministers concurred on activating personnel and unit exchange to boost mutual understanding and trust between the South Korean military and the Japanese Self-Defense Force,” said the ministry.
The meeting between Ahn and Koizumi came after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung early this month for summit talks in her home province of Nara in western Japan.
Seoul and Tokyo have seen ties grow warmer despite tensions over Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula.
Earlier this week, Japan for the first time refueled South Korean military aircraft at a base in southern Japan as they flew to Saudi Arabia for a defense exhibition.
Separately, on Friday, a South Korean C-130H transport aircraft made emergency landing at a naval base in Japan's Okinawa island.
It was en route Saudi Arabia for the defense exhibition after flying from from a naval base in Gimhae city in South Gyeongsang province of South Korea.
The South Korean Air Force said the military plane suffered "reduced engine output" in one of its four turboprop engines.