South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol visits Japan today, the first time in 12 years a South Korean president visited the country. Photo: REUTERS/Daewoung Kim

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visits Japan to hold talks on regional security issues in Tokyo today.

He will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This is the first such trip by a South Korean leader in 12 years. The two men are expected to pledge to strengthen bilateral cooperation, especially in defense.

The trip comes after South Korea announced last week that its companies would compensate victims of forced labor under Japanese colonial rule between 1910 and 1945. Since being elected in March, Yoon has begun a rapprochement with the former colonial power, symbolized by the return of trilateral military exercises, including a ballistic missile defense drill last month.

Amid the rising bellicosity of the Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping regimes in their region, the two sides are expected to deepen their military interoperability. The talks are likely to see progress on increasing information sharing, including the establishment of liaison officers at the Combined Forces Command in Seoul and the Defense Ministry in Tokyo. Both sides are likely to commit to working together to push the United States to expand and institutionalize trilateral military exercises, as well as extended deterrence.