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Readout of CJCS Gen. Dunford's meeting with Chief of Staff of the Japan Joint Staff Adm. Kawano

  • Published
  • By Maj. Jamie Dobson, CJCS Spokeswoman
  • Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs
On Friday Aug. 18, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford met with his counterpart Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, Chief of Staff of the Japan Joint Staff, in Tokyo.

 

Gen. Dunford reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. commitment to the alliance and the defense of Japan.

 

He and Adm. Kawano discussed the grave threat posed by North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. Gen. Dunford made it clear that a North Korean attack on one is an attack on both nations. He reiterated U.S. resolve to use its full range of military options to defend our allies and our homeland if our preferred, peaceful diplomatic and economic approach failed.

 

To meet the North Korean threat, Gen. Dunford encouraged strengthening trilateral cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and the ROK while working to achieve a complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

 

They discussed opportunities to develop our already strong military-to-military relationship and he commended recent training exercises which helped enhance interoperability and readiness.

 

Gen. Dunford said that for more than six decades, the U.S.-Japan Alliance has been the foundation of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific, and he expressed his gratitude for the deep-rooted friendship.

 

The meeting came one day after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted their Japanese counterparts in Washington D.C. The meeting was the first U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting. The group discussed the regional strategic environment, as well as security and defense cooperation, and other Alliance issues.