Defense officials of South Korea and China held working-level talks in Beijing on Thursday to discuss resuming joint maritime search and rescue exercises (SAREX) after a 15-year hiatus. The two countries launched the SAREX drills for humanitarian maritime cooperation in the Yellow Sea, including search and rescue efforts, boosting safety and promoting military exchanges to enhance bilateral relations. The SAREX exercises took place in 2005, 2007 and 2008, and have not been held since the last drills in 2011. The two sides discussed reviving the drills at the 21st bilateral defense policy meeting, which was also held for the first time in more than three years. Both sides assessed positively the efforts to resume defense cooperation and agreed to work closely together to restore the severed strategic dialogue channels, while expanding the scope of exchanges between defense authorities. Thursday’s meeting came as Seoul and Beijing are taking steps to improve bilateral ties and resolve pending issues following summit talks between President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping in e
