SEOUL, May 10 (Xinhua) — South Korea will host a six-nation submarine exercise in its southern seas later in the month, Yonhap quoted the Navy as saying on Tuesday.

The Pacific Reach 2016, involving the United States, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea will kick off on May 25 for a 10-day run in the waters off South Korea's naval port city of Jinhae on the southeastern edge of the Korean Peninsula as well as around Jeju Island, the Navy said.

Another 12 foreign countries, including China and Russia, will join as observers, the Navy said.

The focus of the exercise is on improving the participating countries' interoperability in submarine rescue operations involving the deployment of deep-submergence rescue vehicles and pressurized rescue modules.

The forthcoming exercise is the 7th of its kind since the multilateral event was launched in 2000 in Singapore. This is the second time South Korea is hosting the drill since 2004.