U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and agreed to step up trilateral cooperation with South Korea during their summit held in Washington on Friday.

In a joint statement released after their talks at the White House, the two leaders said the Indo-Pacific region was facing growing challenges including North Korea's provocations and China's actions that are inconsistent with the rules-based international order.

They reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the peninsula in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions and also to further enhance trilateral cooperation with South Korea in security and other domains to that end.

Biden also reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan.

The statement also noted Russia's invasion of Ukraine and strongly opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion, anywhere in the world. 

The two sides also stressed that their basic positions on Taiwan remain unchanged, and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community.