Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is planning to visit South Korea in early June and meet with President Moon Jae-in, an LDP lawmaker said Tuesday.

Nikai is also considering conveying a letter from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Moon to lay the groundwork for their first face-to-face meeting since the new South Korean leader took power earlier in May, the lawmaker said.

The Japanese government hopes to arrange the bilateral summit by early July when the leaders of the Group of 20 major economies are scheduled to gather for their annual meeting in Germany.

Abe and Moon held talks by phone Monday and agreed to get tough on North Korea amid its continued test-firing of ballistic missiles.

Nikai is also expected to hold talks with other South Korean officials, with the 2015 agreement on "comfort women," Japan's euphemism for the women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels prior to and during World War II, and North Korea likely to be high on the agenda.