In the first visit to South Korea by a Japanese defense chief in a decade, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani met with his counterpart in Seoul on Monday, with the two sides agreeing to make mutual visits a regular practice and staking out areas of high-tech defense cooperation.

Nakatani and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said in a joint statement that they had reached the deal to enhance communication and boost personnel exchanges, ¡°including mutual visits by the ministers and defense ministerial meetings.¡±

¡°As an example of personnel exchanges, the two ministers welcomed the participation of the South Korean military band in the Self-Defense Forces Music Festival scheduled for this November,¡± the statement said.