SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it’s an honor and a great pleasure to welcome the minister here to Washington for these important consultations, both on a bilateral basis between Japan and the United States and our trilateral meeting with South Korea. And Minister, this is always an important meeting when we have a chance to discuss the full range of the issues that we are confronting, but it is particularly significant now as we discuss the important challenges we confront because of the actions of North Korea.
FOREIGN MINISTER MAEHARA: (Via interpreter.) I sincerely would like to express my appreciation to Secretary Clinton’s leadership in convening this bilateral meeting, together with the trilateral meeting, at this very difficult time. We need to strengthen our trilateral cooperation between Japan, the United States, and Korea. And it’s not just to criticize North Korea and condemn its action, but we need to really think about how we can find a way to bring peace to the Northeast Asia and to the Korean Peninsula.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
