Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agreed Monday to cooperate on North Korean nuclear issues and in dealing with the situation in the Middle East following an attack on Saudi Arabia's major oil facilities.

Motegi, who spoke with Pompeo on the phone for the first time since taking on the foreign minister portfolio last Wednesday, told reporters he also agreed to meet the secretary of state on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York later this month.

Pompeo offered to hold the talks in order to congratulate Motegi, previously the economic revitalization minister, for assuming his new post in the wake of the Cabinet reshuffle, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.