At top security talks Tuesday, Japan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to pressing North Korea to take steps toward denuclearization and to call on China to increase transparency with regard to its military.
"We don't have endless patience," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a joint press conference after the meeting of defense and foreign ministers, urging North Korea to act on the six-party pledge that was already two weeks past its deadline. "We agreed that we must continue to expect North Korea to immediately fulfill its initial action agreement."
In a joint statement issued after the hourlong meeting, the four ministers also underlined cooperation over North Korea to resolve humanitarian matters, including the abductions of Japanese.
In the meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates shared Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma's concerns over China's rapid increase in next-generation fighters and the modernization of its navy, and agreed that Tokyo and Washington should cooperate in urging Beijing to improve transparency, Japanese officials said.