North Korea's leader stated in his New Year's address that the country "entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile," threatening the peace and stability of the international community. Last year, North Korea conducted two nuclear tests and launched more than 20 ballistic missiles in order to enhance its capabilities. Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development has reached a new level that could pose a direct threat even to the United States.

In this environment, it is extremely important for Japan and South Korea, which are both U.S. allies in Asia, as well as for the trilateral partners of Japan, South Korea and the U.S., to closely cooperate with each other in order to address the provocations of North Korea. We have made concrete progress in cooperation between Japan and South Korea, including conclusion of the Japan-ROK General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) last November.

In the background of the close cooperation among the three countries is the agreement reached at the end of December 2015 between Japan and South Korea regarding the issue of "comfort women," which was also welcomed by the U.S. government. With this agreement, the governments of Japan and South Korea confirmed that the issue of comfort women is "resolved finally and irreversibly." The subsequent telephone talks between the Japanese and South Korean leaders confirmed that they would take responsibility to implement this agreement. Since then, the two sides have steadily implemented it.