Japan foreign, defense chiefs leave for US talks

August 16, 2017

TOKYO- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera left for Washington on Wednesday to hold security talks with their US counterparts later this week.

At the so-called two-plus-two meeting slated for Thursday, the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries will discuss ways to strengthen the missile defense and other emergency response capabilities of the Japan-US alliance amid the heightened tensions over North Korea.

In their telephone talks on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and US President Donald Trump "exchanged views on the growing threat" from North Korea, including "the most recent threats to the United States and Japanese territory," according to the White House.

After the phone talks, Abe said he and Trump have agreed that preventing North Korea from conducting its recently announced missile plan is of utmost importance, referring to the reclusive state's threat to launch ballistic missiles over western Japan into waters near the US Pacific territory of Guam.

Against this background, the Japanese and US defense and foreign ministers are expected to reaffirm the policy of encouraging China and Russia to play constructive roles in persuading North Korea to stop its provocations, sources familiar with the situation said.

Also at the meeting, the two sides are likely to agree to increase international pressure on North Korea by fully implementing the latest UN Security Council resolution, adopted earlier this month, to strengthen sanctions against Pyongyang over its intercontinental ballistic missile launches in July.

This will be the first two-plus-two security meeting between Japan and the United States since April 2015.

The upcoming meeting, the first since the Trump administration was inaugurated in January, will be participated by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

Meetings are also planned between Kono and Tillerson and between Onodera and Mattis.Jiji Press