Japan-United States of America Relations

　On August 15, commencing at 10:27 a.m. for approximately 30 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone talk with the Honorable Donald Trump, President of the United States of America. The overview of the telephone talk is as follows.

1. The two leaders exchanged views on the situation concerning North Korea. Prime Minister Abe highly appreciated that President Trump stated the commitment of the United States to defend its allies in response to North Korea’s announcement that it would launch ballistic missiles flying over the Japanese territory toward the vicinity of Guam.
2. In response, President Trump expressed strong concerns about North Korea’s announcement that it would launch ballistic missiles toward the vicinity of Guam, and the two leaders concurred that the most important point is to prevent North Korea from going ahead with the missile launches.
3. President Trump mentioned that he held a U.S.-China summit telephone talk on August 12 and urged China to play a greater role. In response, Prime Minister Abe highly appreciated his effort, and the two leaders confirmed the importance of the roles of China and Russia.
4. The two leaders shared the view that dialogue for the sake of dialogue with North Korea is meaningless, and now is the time for the international community to come together to strengthen pressure on North Korea, that it is important to strictly implement the newly adopted United Nations Security Council resolution, and that Japan and the United States will jointly push forward concrete actions to enhance their defense posture and capabilities.