The United Kingdom and Japan will jointly confront international issues pertaining to Afghanistan, North Korean and nuclear nonproliferation, visiting British Foreign Secretary William Hague agreed with his Tokyo counterpart, Katsuya Okada, on Thursday.
"Japan and the United Kingdom share basic values," Okada said during a joint news conference after the bilateral meeting in Tokyo. "We agreed to strengthen bilateral ties and deepen cooperation on international affairs."
Hague strongly condemned North Korea over the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan and expressed dissatisfaction over the recent U.N. statement that avoided directly blaming Pyongyang over the incident.