Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Japanese counterpart on the situation in North Korea; and if he will make a statement.

​The Foreign Secretary met Japanese Foreign Minister Kono on 14 December for the annual UK-Japan 2+2 security and defence talks. The focus was on tackling global security issues, such as the threat posed by North Korea, and agreeing frameworks for greater bilateral security and defence cooperation.

The UK and Japanese Ministers affirmed at the meeting that they would apply maximum pressure on North Korea to urge it to take concrete actions towards abandoning its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner.