The defense ministers of Japan and the United States are considering holding talks on the North Korean nuclear issue at the end of the month before the landmark U.S.-North Korea summit in June, Defense Ministry sources said Saturday.
The proposed meeting in Hawaii would likely see Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis confirming their policy of maintaining maximum pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs, the sources said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are set to meet on June 12 in Singapore in what would be the first-ever summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.