March 10, 2018

The U.S. president trumpeted during a March 9 phone call with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he had "good news."

It was anything but.

The U.S. leader's announcement of a planned historic summit meeting by the end of May with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un caught Japan off-guard and dismayed as Tokyo had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Washington on maintaining maximum pressure on Pyongyang to rein in its military provocations.

"It never occurred to us that such a decision would be made at this time," said a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official, describing the shockwaves reverberating in Tokyo.

Read more:

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201803100035.html