The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan will reportedly hold a virtual meeting this month to discuss responses to the recent ballistic missile launches by North Korea.

Japan's Kyodo News on Monday quoted a Japanese government official as saying that senior officials of the three nations agreed to hold the meeting during their phone talks held last Friday.

South Korea's Defense Minister Suh Wook and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin were scheduled to hold an in-person meeting with their Japanese counterpart Nobuo Kishi in Hawaii last month, but the meeting was delayed due to the spread of the omicron variant.

If the virtual meeting occurs, it will be the first talks between the three nations’ defense chiefs since November 2019.

On Thursday, the top nuclear envoys of the three nations are set to hold an in-person meeting in Hawaii to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula after the North's recent launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The foreign ministers of the three nations will also meet in Hawaii on Saturday to discuss further cooperation on North Korean issues.