Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono affirmed the importance of fully implementing UN sanctions on North Korea to achieve denuclearization. The G7 ministers discussed coordination in curbing Pyongyang's sanctions evasion measures such as UN-prohibited ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum and sales of coal and other banned commodities. According to the Japanese Foreign Minister, the G7 also pushed North Korea to immediately resolve its abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.
The ministers also expressed serious concern about China’s militarization of outposts in disputed areas of the East Sea and its attempts to undermine Japan’s control of the Senkaku Islands (called Diaoyu by China) in the East China Sea. G7 opposed any unilateral action affecting the stability in the region and orders under international law.