All national dailies except Sankei reported that Vice President Pence arrived at Yokota AB last night and will hold talks with Prime Minister Abe today to reaffirm bilateral cooperation and trilateral coordination with South Korea in reining in North Korea’s nuclear and missile provocations. Pointing out that the Vice President will meet with ROK President Moon on Thursday, Asahi quoted a USG source as saying: “We would like to hold South Korea’s conciliatory line in check by first confirming coordination with Japan in applying pressure on North Korea.” Kyodo quoted an unnamed senior USG official as saying that the Vice President and PM Abe will make clear that the two nations are strongly committed to applying maximum pressure on Pyongyang.  

Mainichi and Kyodo projected that the Vice President will visit the Defense Ministry this morning and survey the PAC-3 batteries currently deployed on its premises. While noting that the Vice President will meet separately with Deputy Prime Minister Aso tonight, Mainichi explained that the talks will not be part of the bilateral economic dialogue.