Foreign ministers of Japan, US, South Korea agree to strengthen ties

Feb 16 (NHK) - The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea have agreed to strengthen their trilateral ties to address security issues together.

Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul met in Germany. This is their first meeting since US President Donald Trump took office.

The top diplomats agreed that stronger ties and cooperation will help bring peace and prosperity to the region and the world.

They expressed a firm opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo with force or coercion in the Indo-Pacific. They also reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in Taiwan Strait. They apparently had China in mind.

They shared serious concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and the country's closer military cooperation with Russia.

They also agreed to work together to denuclearize North Korea.

Boosting cooperation in energy supplies that takes advantage of US liquefied natural gas was also discussed at the meeting.

They issued a joint statement that summarized the outcome of their discussions.

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