Secretary Mattis and I are grateful for the opportunity today to host Foreign Minister Kono and Defense Minister Onodera today. The bonds of America and Japan have — forged over previous decades — will continue to endure. Today’s honest and productive discussions reaffirmed our mutual commitment to confronting threats to regional peace and security.
As you might imagine, we spent a fair amount of time discussing North Korea. North Korea’s recent intercontinental ballistic missile and other missile launches are unacceptable provocations, and they must stop immediately. We agreed to bolster our alliance capabilities to deter and respond to North Korea’s unacceptable behavior and other challenges to regional security. In cooperation with other nations, we will continue to employ diplomatic and economic pressure to convince North Korea to end its illegal nuclear and ballistic missile program.
I think, as was clear by all peace-seeking nations and the unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution that was adopted, as well as very strong statements being made by the ASEAN nations and others throughout the world, we all seek the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.
We again call upon all nations to fully enforce the U.N. Security Council resolution imposing additional sanctions on the regime in North Korea. We will remain vigilant against the North Korean threats through our military preparedness.
Remarks by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Aug. 17, 2017 at the State Department.
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