North Korea a top security concern in Asia-Pacific, Ash Carter says

TOKYO, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- North Korea remains a top security concern for the United States and Japan, the U.S. defense secretary said Tuesday.

Ash Carter, who toured a helicopter destroyer at the largest overseas U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, told U.S. crewmembers and Japanese officials in Okinawa that the fleet in Japan plays an important role against a future North Korea attack, Stars and Stripes reported.

"We're very busy these days, and you guys know that out here in the Asia-Pacific -- your ops tempo is extremely high," Carter said. "North Korea, for example, [there is a] serious need for deterrence and defense that only we can provide."

Carter made the statement before the crew of the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer of the Seventh Fleet stationed in Yokosuka Naval Base.

Carter later met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.

The defense secretary, on his last tour of Asia before U.S. President Barack Obama concludes his term in office, is most likely meeting with top leaders to reassure allies like Japan ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, according to the report.

Abe was the first world leader to meet with Trump in New York after the election on Nov. 8 and has said he is confident about the future of U.S.-Japan relations since the meeting.

In Tokyo Abe said through a translator the two countries have under Obama "successfully and significantly reinforced the alliance between Japan and the United States."

Abe also reiterated his plans to visit Pearl Harbor and thanked Carter for an agreement to return 4,000 acres of land, which the defense secretary described as the "largest land transfer in the history" of the alliance.

Abe said his upcoming visit to Hawaii is a demonstration of his "determination for the future...[to] never again repeat the devastation of war."