South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Han Min-koo will participate in the annual conference of top military officers from the Asia-Pacific region this week in Hawaii to discuss regional military issues, officials said Sunday.

Before joining the Chiefs of Defense meeting from Tuesday to Thursday, Han will visit Gen. Ryoichi Oriki, Japan’s chief of joint self-defense force on Monday at his invitation to discuss ways to enhance bilateral military cooperation, the JCS said.

Under the theme of a multilateral approach to maritime security in the Asia-Pacific region, top military commanders from 27 countries will attend the conference, which the U.S. Pacific Command hosted this time.

“JCS chief Han will actively carry out ‘military diplomacy’ through bilateral and multilateral talks with top military officers in the region at the meeting,” the JCS said in a press release.

“With his official visit to Japan and attendance at the CHOD meeting, we can enhance military relations with the participating sates and expect that international cooperation in dealing with North Korean issues will further strengthen.”

The U.S. PACOM created the CHOD conference in 1998 to discuss military cooperation in the region to deal with a series of issues, including religious conflicts and transnational threats which have arisen following the end of the Cold War in 1989.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)