U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to strengthen cooperation to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific despite “growing challenges” like “provocations by North Korea,” meeting for a bilateral summit in Washington.

“We reaffirm our commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions,” the two sides said in a joint statement released by the White House following their meeting on Friday.