Obama, Hatoyama pledge cooperation

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The United States and Japan will work together to ensure prosperity and coordinate efforts on a range of global threats, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged.

Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met Wednesday while the two world leaders attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

"As the world's two largest economies we recognize the importance of coordinating closely to continue to move beyond the current economic crisis and to focus our attention on how our economies are actually providing opportunity for ordinary citizens," Obama said.

The two also pledged to coordinate on international threats such nuclear proliferation, North Korea, stabilization efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan and climate change, Obama said.

Hatoyama said he told Obama "that the Japan-U.S. alliance will continue to be the central pillar, key pillar, (to) the security of Japan and Japanese foreign policy."