On March 24, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Japan Minister of Defense Kishi Nobuo held a call to reaffirm the U.S.-Japan Alliance's resolve to maintain regional peace and security and to address the threats posed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The two leaders shared their assessments and discussed measures to respond to the DPRK's recent Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launches. They agreed upon the seriousness of today's missile launch, which landed within Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone.
The two leaders shared a common understanding that DPRK's missile launches, which are a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, pose a serious threat to the peace and stability of not only the Indo-Pacific region, but also the entire world. They also agreed on the importance of trilateral defense cooperation with the Republic of Korea, in addition to ongoing bilateral coordination between the U.S. and Japan, to respond to the DPRK threat, and to continue efforts to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
