Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong reportedly met executives of Japan's leading mobile carriers last week to discuss possible collaboration in the area of the fifth-generation (5G) network technology.

According to industry sources on Sunday, Lee traveled to Tokyo for three days from Wednesday and visited the headquarters of NTT Docomo and KDDI and exchanged ideas over the 5G business with officials from the two mobile carriers.

In the meetings, Lee and the Japanese firms reportedly agreed to enhance cooperation to smoothly launch the 5G network in Japan, which is preparing to launch full-fledged 5G services next year.

During the recent trip, Lee reportedly visited "Galaxy Harajuku," Samsung's newly opened flagship store for Galaxy smartphones in Tokyo and encouraged the staff.

The South Korean tech giant has been making efforts to penetrate deeper into the Japanese market. In October of last year, Samsung decided to join forces with NEC on developing 5G telecom equipment.

The company also plans to support the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as a worldwide partner of the International Olympic Committee.