South Korea and the US will stage a joint naval drill later this month. The drill will begin in the Korean Peninsula, before moving to the Yellow Sea.

The US will send its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George Washington, to participate in the exercise. The date of the drill will be finalized next week when defense and foreign ministers of the two countries meet in Seoul at the so-called "two-plus-two" security talks.

Kim Young-Sun, Spokesman of S. Korean Foreign Ministry, said, "The South Korea-US joint military exercise fundamentally has a defensive nature. Similar joint military exercises have taken place for the past several years."