South Korea's Army chief will visit Japan later in the month to hold talks with his counterpart on ways to expand bilateral cooperation, the military said Sunday. 
The Army said its Chief of Staff Gen. Jang Jun-gyu will be in Japan on April 17 and 18 and hold a meeting with Gen. Kiyofumi Iwata, the head of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, state-run Yonhap news agency reported. 
The talks will be the first of their kind since January 2008, when a meeting took place between the heads of South Korea's and Japan's ground forces in Tokyo. 
"Jang will meet senior ranking officers of the Japanese forces as well as South Korean personnel undergoing training in Japan's military schools," the Army said. 
It said emphasis will be placed on furthering personnel exchange between military officers from the two countries. 
"The latest visit does not have anything to do with the joint acquisition and cross-servicing agreement that has been mentioned by Seoul and Tokyo," an Army source stressed. 
The visit is expected to help speed up exchange between the top brasses of the two countries, following a trip made by Japan's top naval commander to South Korea late last month. 
The Army also said that Gen. Jang will be in Washington this week to meet his US counterpart Gen. Mark Milley to discuss outstanding issues related to the South Korea-US military alliance. He will visit various command facilities in the United States during his trip. 
He is expected to touch on mutual security issues and ways to strengthen exchange of personnel that can promote closer bilateral ties.

Source: QNA