The Defense Ministers of South Korea and Japan reinforced this Sunday their countries' commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, despite North Korea's announcements to increase its nuclear arsenal.

The officials met after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to strengthen his country's defensive capabilities, including equipping its navy with nuclear weapons.

South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back received his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi in Seoul, who is on a two-day visit in which both countries discuss ways to deepen military cooperation.

Vital US support and efforts to improve complicated historical relations

Seoul and Tokyo are security allies of the United States, but cooperation between their armed forces has been limited by historical tensions stemming from Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century.

Both "reaffirmed their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace, and agreed to continue bilateral (...) and trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the United States," says a South Korean statement issued at the end of the meeting.

Additionally, South Korea and Japan held their first joint search and rescue military exercises in nine years in recent weeks.