Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had his first summit in the United States with President George W. Bush. Describing the aim of his U.S. visit, Mr. Abe said at a news conference in Camp David, "The biggest objective of this visit this time was to reaffirm the irreplaceable Japan-U.S. alliance and to make it grow stronger as an unshakable alliance." Mr. Abe achieved his stated objective as the two leaders reaffirmed a strong bilateral alliance. But utmost care is needed to ensure that Japan's basic postwar posture based on its Constitution will not be jeopardized under the name of strengthening the alliance, which has served both countries well. This is especially important because Mr. Abe is talking about changing the government's traditional interpretation of the Constitution, which holds that Japan cannot exercise the right to collective defense.

Mr. Abe's U.S. visit took place at a time when there were seeds of schism between the two nations. The biggest one stemmed from differences over the two nations' approaches to North Korea's nuclear-weapons program. In a policy turnaround, the U.S. adopted a more flexible stance toward the North and made a concession by announcing the release of $25 million in North Korean funds that had been frozen in a Macau bank. Japan, meanwhile, insisted that it would not join a program to ship oil to North Korea -- part of the "initial action phase" included in the Feb. 13 six-party agreement -- unless the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea was first solved. These differences raised the possibility that Japan would be isolated in the six-party talks.

At the summit, however, Mr. Abe gained what he wanted on the North Korea issue -- unity between Japan and the U.S. He and Mr. Bush agreed on the possibility of new sanctions against North Korea unless it abides by the Feb. 13 promise to soon take initial denuclearization steps. Mr. Bush said, "Our partners in the six-party talks are patient, but our patience is not unlimited." His statement, apparently aimed at countering the argument that the U.S. has suddenly become soft toward North Korea, may be a hint that the U.S. would be willing to once again adopt a tough stance toward Pyongyang. As for the abduction issue, Mr. Bush told Mr. Abe that his strong feelings on the issue would not diminish and that he would like to cooperate with the Japanese government.