Japan-United States of America Relations

On April 30, commencing from 2:10 p.m. (8:10 a.m. on the same day local time) for approximately 35 minutes, Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, during his visit to Amman, held a Japan-U.S. Foreign Ministers' Meeting with Dr. Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State of the United States. The overview of the meeting is as follows. 

1. To begin with, Minister Kono congratulated the Secretary of State on his appointment, and said that he would like to cooperate on a variety of issues, including the issue of North Korea. 
2. The two foreign ministers welcomed the Inter-Korean Summit held on April 27 as a positive move toward comprehensive resolution of various issues of concern, such as the nuclear issue, and they closely coordinated  the future policy  on the issue of North Korea, including the upcoming U.S.-North Korea Summit Meeting. 
3. The two foreign ministers shared the view that it is important that North Korea  takes concrete actions for the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges, and that they must maintain maximum pressure on North Korea. 
4. Furthermore, they agreed that Japan and the United States will continue to cooperate toward the resolution of the abductions issue, against the backdrop that, during Prime Minister Abe's recent visit to the United States, both countries agreed to raise the abductions issue on the occasion of the U.S.-North Korea Summit Meeting. 
5. Secretary Pompeo praised Japan's initiatives of Japan with respect to preventing illegal ship-to-ship transfers of goods by North Korean ships, and the two foreign ministers agreed that Japan and the United States will cooperate to advance such an initiative. 
6. In addition, they confirmed the importance for the three countries, Japan, the United States, and the Republic of Korea, to continue close cooperation to elicit concrete actions from North Korea including through the U.S.-North Korea Summit Meeting.
7. Furthermore, Minister Kono gave a summary on the Ministerial-Level Meeting for the "Corridor for Peace and Prosperity" held on April 29, and the two foreign ministers held an exchange of views regarding Middle East peace process and Iran.