Onodera, Mattis to meet in Washington in late April

March 24, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera plans to visit Washington in late April for talks with US Defense Secretary James Mattis over North Korea's nuclear and missile development, government sources told Jiji Press on Saturday.

The meeting is expected to take place after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returns home from an expected U.S. visit to meet with President Donald Trump earlier that month, according to the sources.

Onodera last visited the United States in January, when he viewed the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system in Hawaii.

During his planned visit, the Japanese defense chief aims to confirm with his U.S. counterpart that their countries will sustain the maximum pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs.

Onodera also hopes to remind the world of the close cooperation between the two countries' defense authorities, at a time when North Korea is slated to hold a summit with the South in late April and expected to have one with the United States in May, the sources said. Jiji Press