South Korea, the United States and Japan are reportedly arranging trilateral talks of their defense chiefs next month in Singapore on the sidelines of an annual security forum.

Quoting a Japanese government official, Japan's Kyodo News said on Sunday that the defense chiefs of the three nations plan to hold talks on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore set for June 10 to 12.

South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi plan to attend the regional security forum.

The Japanese official reportedly said during the three-way meeting, the defense ministers plan to deepen their cooperation on North Korea's recent provocations, including ballistic missile launches.

Kyodo said the defense ministers of South Korea and the United States are likely to hold separate bilateral talks, but Seoul and Tokyo are unlikely to hold bilateral defense talks.

The Shangri-La Dialogue is an inter-governmental security forum held annually by an independent think tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, bringing together defense ministers and military chiefs of 28 Asia-Pacific states.