Japan is aiming to promote regional peace and stability through strengthened trust and good will with the naval forces of all countries participating in its international fleet review, including South Korea.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday that South Korea conveyed the previous day that its forces will join in the event, after the official was asked to comment on Seoul’s participation for the first time in seven years.

With Japan hosting the multilateral Western Pacific Naval Symposium(WPNS) around the time of the fleet review, Matsuno said Tokyo invited all member states, including South Korea.

The South Korean defense ministry announced plans the previous day to send the ten-thousand-ton logistics support ship Soyang to the event in Sagami Bay off Tokyo on November 6 that will see twelve countries, including the U.S., Britain and Japan, participate.

The decision comes amid controversy over the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's hoisting of the Rising Sun Flag, viewed by many Koreans as a symbol of Japan's imperialist past. South Korea last took part in the event in 2015 under the Park Geun-hye government.