emperor and empress at the grand imperial palace japan's time honored customs and exquisite culture phyllis with a deep sense of admiration i want to thank all of the people of japan for welcoming us to this week and sharing your beloved heritage it is truly an incredible heritage. this visit has also been a chance for prime minister in may to strengthen our close friendship and the friendship between our 2 nations the alliance between the united states and japan is a cornerstone of stability and prosperity in the region and all around the world the prime minister and i continue our close consultation in pursuit of peace and security on the korean peninsula the essence of our approach is peace through strength and this is a strong alliance indeed the u.s. japan alliance is steadfast and ironclad we want peace and we want stability we continue to hope that chairman kim seizes the opportunity to transform his country through d. nuclear ization it is a country with tremendous economic and other potential the united states also remains committed to the issue of abductions which i know is a top