The United States plans to deploy two additional Aegis destroyers to Japan by 2017 to reinforce missile defenses against increasingly provocative North Korea, visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.

During a joint news conference following an hourlong-meeting in Tokyo with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, Hagel said the two advanced destroyers, which are equipped with ballistic missile defense systems, will improve the ability of both Japan and the U.S. to protect themselves.

The ships will bring to seven the number of U.S. Aegis destroyers deployed in Japan, he said.