The government is arranging to have U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres visit Japan by the end of this year, a diplomatic source said Sunday.

If realized, it would be the first visit to Japan by Guterres since he took the helm of the United Nations in January. The U.N. chief will likely meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese officials, the source said.

Taking the opportunity of the U.N. head's visit, Tokyo hopes to boost momentum for reforms to the U.N. Security Council. Japan currently holds non-permanent membership of the council until the end of this year.

The government is considering inviting Guterres on the occasion of either an international symposium on women's empowerment this autumn or an international conference on health and medicine in December, the source added.

Japan is also planning to ask the U.N. chief to increase the number of Japanese staff at the United Nations. As of June 30 last year, 78 Japanese nationals accounted for 2.62 percent of total U.N. regular staff -- this despite the fact that Tokyo's financial contribution makes up 9.68 percent of the U.N. budget for a three-year period from 2016, the second largest after the United States.

According to the source, Guterres showed willingness to visit Japan when then Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida put the idea to him when he visited U.N. headquarters in New York in July.

Japan has called for expanding the number of permanent and non-permanent members of the Security Council. Currently, five nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- are permanent, veto-wielding members of the council.