Fumio Kishida

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and American President Donald Trump vowed to take “concrete actions” to discourage further North Korean belligerence following yet another missile launch last week in an extended phone conversation Monday.

Japan has pledged to fund USD 1 billion in the next two years of UN development activities and has thus become one of the world's largest donors to support development, the French press reported.

The European Union and Japan will hold a summit on July 6 in hopes of sealing broad agreement on a massive trade deal after four years of tough negotiations.

The landmark deal would mark a big victory for free trade just days before a G-20 summit in Germany in which U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to defend his "America First" protectionist stance.

The European Union's top trade official said on July 1 that a Japan-EU free trade deal was "almost there," as the two sides look to ink an agreement seen as a push back against rising protectionism.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was in Tokyo with agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan for two days of talks with Japanese officials.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on June 21 described Japan as Turkey's chief economic partner in the Asia-Pacific area.     

His remarks came after meeting his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo to discuss bilateral relations, and regional and global issues as part of a two-day official visit.       

North Korea on Sunday test-launched a ballistic missile that flew for half an hour and reached an unusually high altitude before landing in the Sea of Japan, the South Korean, Japanese and U.S. militaries said.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on March 16 that the escalating threat from North Korea's nuclear program showed a clear need for a "new approach," although he stopped short of detailing what steps the Trump administration would pursue.

North Korea on Sept. 5 fired three suspected medium-range Rodong missiles that travelled about 1,000 kilometers and landed near Japan in an apparent show of force timed to the G-20 economic summit in China, Seoul officials said.

G7 foreign ministers on April 10 began two days of talks in Hiroshima, with John Kerry's visit to the atom-bombed city -- the first-ever by a US secretary of state -- overshadowing the broader agenda.
 

South Korea and Japan reached a landmark agreement on Dec. 28 on the thorny issue of wartime sex slaves that has long soured relations, with Tokyo offering survivors a one-billion yen payment.