Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin will leave for Singapore Friday to attend the 12th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit.

On the sidelines of the regional security forum, the South Korean defense minister will hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Saturday. He will also meet with top military leaders of Germany, Singapore and Vietnam.

A trilateral meeting among the defense chiefs of South Korea, the U.S. and Japan is also scheduled to take place during the summit.

In the three-way meeting, Kim, Hagel and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera will evaluate North Korea’s provocations and discuss how to cooperate in dealing with Pyongyang.

A high-ranking U.S. Defense Department official said Tuesday in a briefing about the intergovernmental security summit that the U.S.’ stance is to separate trilateral security cooperation from the diplomatic and political tension between South Korea and Japan over historical issues.

Also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, the annual Asia Security Summit is hosted by British independent think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies and attended by top military leaders from 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe.