Relations between South Korea and Japan have been strained since late last year over multiple disputed encounters between their navies.
Now, according to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan has decided not to participate in a naval drill in South Korean waters scheduled for next month.
That exercise is due to take place near Busan in late April... together with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations... in conjunction with the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus.
There's another naval drill scheduled for May in Singapore,... and according to the report, Japan will take part in that one.
The dispute began last December over claims by Tokyo that a South Korean warship used its targeting radar to lock onto a Japanese patrol plane.
Seoul said it has evidence proving otherwise, and it claimed that Japanese planes conducted several unmannerly low-altitude flights near its warships.