Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera plans to appoint Hideshi Tokuchi, currently director general of the Defense Policy Bureau, to the new post of vice defense minister for international affairs, an administration source said Tuesday.
Tokuchi, 58, will be the top defense bureaucrat in charge of international conferences and negotiations with other countries. He will oversee negotiations with the U.S. Defense Department on revising the bilateral defense cooperation guidelines.
Tetsuro Kuroe, 56, director general of the Defense Minister's Secretariat, is expected to succeed Tokuchi as head of the Defense Policy Bureau.