▲ Mark Esper (left), U.S. Secretary of Defense and Japanese Defense Award, Taro Kono
The US and Japanese defense ministers met in person to discuss security issues in East Asia, including North Korean missiles.
US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono met in U.S. Guam on the 29th local time.
According to Kyodo News, they agreed at the talks on the importance of ensuring that the UN Security Council's sanctions resolution is fully implemented for the abolition of all North Korean weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
In addition, the US and Japan decided to cooperate to achieve this as Japan recently withdrew its plan to build a new missile defense system after withdrawing its plan, “Easy's Ashore,” a defense system that intercepts ballistic missiles.
There was also an exchange of opinions on the situation in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
Minister Esper said, "China continues to act malicious in neighboring countries," and "opposes China's actions that destabilize the region."
Defense Minister Kono said the world has changed dramatically in recent years as a result of attempts to change the status quo by force. He said the United States and Japan "as a like-minded country, must deepen cooperation."
Minister Esper and Defense Minister Kono also reaffirmed that the Senkaku Islands are subject to Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty, which regulates the US' obligations to defend Japan.
Recently, as Chinese authorities' ships repeatedly approached the Senkaku Islands, an area of dispute over China-Japan territorial disputes, the two countries highlighted their posture for cooperation.
They met and met in person about seven months after Defense Minister Gono visited the United States in January.
(Photo = Getty Image Korea)