Sam Han | Eportfolio

TOKYO — Responding to recent provocations by North Korea, Japan’s defense minister will soon visit Seoul with several proposals aimed at strengthening military ties despite South Korea’s lingering bitterness over Japan’s colonial past, Japanese news media reported on Tuesday.

During the trip next week, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa will propose that the two Asian neighbors sign separate agreements to cooperate in supplying each others’ armed forces during peacekeeping and other international operations, and to facilitate sharing of sensitive military information, the reports said. They also said he will propose that Japan and South Korea increase military contacts by scheduling regular high-level meetings between defense officials.

One Japanese newspaper, the right-leaning Yomiuri Shimbun, also said the two nations are working on a more sweeping, joint declaration on military cooperation, though a South Korean Defense Ministry official denied that. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the other agreements had been discussed with the Japanese, but stressed these were about low-level cooperation.

In Tokyo, a spokeswoman for the Defense Ministry refused to comment on the reports or the agenda of the trip. However, the fact that the anonymously sourced reports all carried the same information suggested they had come from an official background briefing.

The anonymous reports and official backpedaling underscore how sensitive the issue of military cooperation is in both countries, though for different reasons. In South Korea, resentment remains raw over Japan’s brutal early 20th-century colonization, while many Japanese have a deep phobia of military action abroad from their nation’s devastating defeat in World War II.

Japan also faces obstacles in its pacifist Constitution, which severely restricts the use of Japan’s military.

Still, Tokyo and Seoul have been cautiously moving toward closer military ties after recent attacks by North Korea on the South, particularly the artillery bombardment of a South Korean island in late November. The two nations have also been prodded by the United States, which has called on Japan and South Korea, its two closest Asian allies, to join in three-nation military drills.

Last month, South Korean observers attended joint United States-Japan military exercises for the first time. In an interview last month, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara of Japan said he expected the two nations to slowly increase military ties in response to the North.

The discussion about closer military cooperation between Japan and South Korea comes as the United States special envoy for North Korea began a visit to the region to discuss restarting talks to reduce nuclear tension on the Korean Peninsula. The envoy, Stephen Bosworth, arrived in South Korea on Tuesday before heading to China and Japan later this week.

According to Tuesday’s press reports, one of the Mr. Kitazawa’s proposals would be for an agreement allowing forces to cooperate during international operations like peacekeeping and disaster relief efforts. The proposed agreement would limit cooperation to providing each others’ militaries with essential items like food, water and fuel, and to sharing support services like transportation and medical care.

Japan already has similar agreements with the United States and Australia. According to the reports, the proposed agreement on the protection of shared military information would also be similar to one that Japan has signed with the United States.

The news reports said it was unclear if the proposed cooperation with South Korea would also extend to military emergencies, like a larger confrontation on the Korean Peninsula. While some Japanese leaders have spoken of raising their nation’s profile, Japan has so far said it would limit its military role during such a contingency to supporting the United States, its long-time protector.

Yasuko Kamiizumi contributed reporting from Tokyo, and Su-hyun Lee from Seoul, South Korea.

Oh isn’t this a bit…odd.