Japan and the United States agreed at a high-level meeting to boost deterrence and response capabilities in the face of North Korea's flurry of missile tests, a government official said.
Senior foreign and defense officials of the two countries discussed other major security challenges, including Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
The meeting Friday in Tokyo came a day after a U.S. official said North Korea tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile system with its two most recent missile firing on Feb. 27 and March 5, as a result of assessment in coordination with Japan and South Korea.
The participants, including Keiichi Ichikawa, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, and Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, shared concerns over North Korea, which has conducted nine missile tests this year, according to the official.
Not just upping the ante with those launches, North Korea has hinted at the possibility of resuming nuclear and ICBM tests for the first time since 2017.
The high-level meeting was also attended by Kazuo Masuda, director-general of the Defense Ministry's policy bureau, and Ely Ratner, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs.
It served as a follow up to the two countries' "two-plus-two" security talks involving their defense and foreign ministers, which were held in a virtual format in January.