The defense chiefs of Japan and the United States have agreed to closely cooperate in dealing with North Korea's repeated missile launches and China's increasing maritime activities.

Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met at the Pentagon, outside Washington, on Wednesday.

They reaffirmed that their countries, along with South Korea, will continue to work closely on North Korea as Pyongyang's repeated missile launches pose a serious threat and cannot be tolerated.

In light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Kishi said unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force is a concern also in the Indo-Pacific. He said deterring such a move is of utmost importance.

Kishi and Austin agreed to strengthen their cooperation on China. They also underlined the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The two strongly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and confirmed their commitment to work together in providing as much assistance to Ukraine as possible.

Kishi conveyed Japan's readiness to fundamentally reinforce its defense capabilities as it looks to revise its National Security Strategy and other defense documents before the year-end.

The review will study proposals made by the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party. They include calls for Japan to possess "counterattack capability" and to raise the country's defense budget.

Kishi and Austin agreed to closely coordinate their strategies.

Austin reaffirmed his country's "unwavering commitment to the defense of Japan to include our extended deterrence commitments, using our full range of conventional and nuclear capabilities."

Kishi replied that given the present global situation, it has become more crucial than ever for Japan and the US to make the deterrence reliable.