A two-year joint naval exercise will be held between the Navies of South Korea and Japan in the East Sea.

The Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX) will be performed in the waters near the South Korean islets of Dokdo and the Japanese Oki between 2 and 10 July 2009.

The countries will deploy their destroyers, helicopters and aircrafts as part of the SAREX.

The South Korean Navy said that the exercise was aimed at promoting relations between the two navies.