Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held a meeting with US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun on Friday in Tokyo and called for increased bilateral cooperation on the North Korea situation and other issues
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi held a meeting with US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun on Friday in Tokyo and called for increased bilateral cooperation on the North Korea situation and other issues.
Japan has suspended international arrivals from the US amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and Biegun was the first US high-ranking official to be allowed to visit. Biegun arrived in Tokyo on Thursday after a two-day visit to South Korea.
"Under the robust Japan-U.S. alliance, I hope to cooperate on regional issues including the situation in North Korea and common concerns of the international community," Motegi said during the meeting, as quoted by the Mainichi newspaper.
In response, the US envoy said that Japan, as a US ally, had contributed to peace and security in Asia and around the globe, and wished that Washington-Tokyo relations strengthened even more.
The US official also separately met Japan's Defense Minister Taro Kono during his Tokyo trip.
The US senior diplomat's visit to the region comes amid escalated tensions after North Korea cut off communications with South Korea and blew up the joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong in mid-June, stopping short of redeploying troops to the demilitarized zones at the border with its southern neighbor.
