U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida at the State Department Friday. "We meet now, two of the three strongest economies in the world, and we meet as very special friends in a very strong alliance, an alliance that I can say to you is really evolving into a global partnership and which is critical to the peace and security of the Asia Pacific," Kerry told reporters alongside Fumio prior to their meeting. Kerry thanked Japan for its "extraordinary cooperation" on issues such as counterterrorism, the operations in Afghanistan, the conflict in Mali, nuclear nonproliferation, and the enforcement of sanctions on Iran. "We make it clear with respect to the Democratic Republic of North Korea, which has recently engaged in very reckless behavior with its nuclear test, that we believe the alliance with Japan is strong, our security commitments with Japan are real, and we stand behind them, and they are strong," Kerry said. Kishida said through an interpreter that he was looking forward to discussing with Kerry the Japan-U.S. alliance, the situations in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the Sahel, and global issues such as counterterrorism and the environment. "By working together hand in hand with Mr. Secretary, we would like to achieve progress in reinforcing the Japan-U.S. alliance," Kishida said.
