South Korea and the U.S. on Monday agreed to prevent annual joint military exercises from being scrapped altogether and continue vital bare-bones exercises.

The agreement came in talks between Defense Minister Song Young-moo and Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, in Seoul.

It was Davidson's first visit to South Korea since he took the job last month. He also met with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

A government source said Song and Davidson "agreed to continue small-scale search and rescue training exercises."