Defense Minister Gen Nakatani will make a three-day visit to Seoul from Tuesday that will include talks with his South Korean counterpart on the day of his arrival, the South's Defense Ministry said Friday.
Nakatani will be the first Japanese defense minister to visit South Korea in four years, and the first since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012.
Besides talks with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Tuesday, Nakatani is scheduled to attend a welcome dinner to be held on the occasion of the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX).
The exhibition is set to open Tuesday for a six-day run at Seoul Airport, a military base on the outskirts of the capital.
The two defense chiefs are expected to discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile threats, and also Japan's national security legislation, enacted last month and aimed at expanding the Self-Defense Forces' role overseas.
Nakatani is also expected to stress to South Korea the necessity of signing a bilateral agreement on the security of military information to allow the bilateral exchange of military intelligence to better cope with North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs.
The two countries put off signing the agreement in 2012 due to domestic opposition in South Korea.
South Korea has called on Japan to ensure that SDF activities will not heighten tensions among neighboring countries.
Nakatani and Han last met in May on the sidelines of Asia's key security forum in Singapore.