The U.S. endorsed Japan’s efforts to strengthen its defenses and acquire “counterstrike capabilities” to counter North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear programs and other threats in the region, as the allies’ top foreign and defense ministers met Wednesday to discuss the need for greater cooperation.

Ahead of the annual U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also defended Tokyo’s embrace of greater military spending as a response to more frequent DPRK missile testing.

“The Ministers strongly condemned North Korea’s unprecedented number of unlawful and reckless ballistic missile launches over the past year, including of multiple intercontinental ballistic