Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said Thursday that the ROK will take part in the Japan-US defense exercises as an observer.?

The joint military drills scheduled to kick off Friday are expected to involve more than 40,000 Japanese and US troops.

The government's top spokesperson said at a news conference that he cannot provide details of the forthcoming drills considering Tokyo's relations with Washington and Seoul, although local media reports quote government sources as saying the ROK Defense Ministry plans to dispatch several observers to the exercises between Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the US military in and around Japan that run through December 10.

Sengoku did say that the ROK's participation was "an important point from the perspective of promoting cooperation among the three countries."

The nuclear powered US aircraft carrier the USS George Washington will join a force of about 400 aircraft and 60 warships in drills which will include responding to ballistic missile attacks on Pacific islands, the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces said in a statement.

In July this year Japan took part in joint US-ROK military exercises as an observer.