People watch news as a TV screen shows a recent combination of images released by DPRK official Korean Central News Agency, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, April 8, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

TOKYO - Japanese and the Republic of Korea's defense authorities are set to agree early next month to link their radars via a US system to share real-time information on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's ballistic missiles, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday.

Defense ministers from Japan, the ROK and the United States plan to reach an agreement on the sidelines of an Asian defense summit to be held in Singapore early next month, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are not public.

The three countries in November agreed to speed up information-sharing. Japan and the ROK are independently linked to the United States' radar systems but not to each others'.

Ties between the United States' Asian allies have warmed in recent months. Resuming their "shuttle diplomacy", Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with the ROK's President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul on Sunday, where they confirmed progress in defense cooperation.

READ MORE: Old disputes overshadow visit by Japan's Kishida to S. Korea

Defense ministers from Japan and the ROK are separately arranging to meet on the sidelines of the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue to be held in Singapore from June 2-4, in what would be the first such meeting since November 2019.