South Korea and three other Indo-Pacific partners of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) will meet on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministers’ meeting set for this week in Belgium. 

The representatives of South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, collectively known as the Indo-Pacific Four(IP4), plan to meet Thursday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels. 

It reportedly marks the first time the IP4 nations will gather separately, without the presence of any NATO members. 

During the meeting, proposed by Australia, the four countries are expected to discuss ways to deepen their cooperation with NATO. 

The IP4 countries were also invited to take part in the upcoming NATO defense ministers’ meeting for the first time.