On September 11, 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hosted a party accompanying the Meeting of the Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Force (SDF) Senior Personnel, at the Prime Minister's Office.

In his opening address, the Prime Minister said,

“Welcome to the Prime Minister’s Office. I am delighted to have this opportunity today to have a talk with all of you, who are working at the core of Japan’s national defense and on the front line.

I believe that my most important responsibility as Prime Minister is to protect the lives and peaceful daily lives of the people. I would like to once again express how proud I am of the 250,000 members of the SDF who are steadfastly fulfilling this responsibility literally 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without fear of hardships, while overcoming turbulence, and even when they are covered in dirt. At the same time, I would also like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to all of their family members.

When North Korea committed the outrageous act of launching a missile over Japanese territories the other day, the information detected by the Aegis-type vessels and radar systems used at the front line of our missile monitoring efforts was immediately brought to the Crisis Management Center here in the Prime Minister’s Office. That information was communicated to the public using the J-ALERT system. I believe that this moment showed people in Japan and abroad how, no matter the time, the front lines of the SDF are always and surely connected to the Prime Minister’s Office. Coordination between the SDF and the Prime Minister’s Office is thus taking place under an extremely advanced system. At the same time, in order to ensure close coordination within this system, it is extremely important that the Commander-in-Chief, the staff members of the Prime Minister’s Office, and SDF senior personnel build face-to-face relationships. It is at times when the security environment surrounding Japan is growing increasingly severe that the relationships between people become most important. I, too, will continue to work in unison with everyone here and promote thorough cooperation. In that sense, Deputy Prime Minister Aso, as well as the staff members from the Prime Minister’s Office, are here in attendance, and I hope that you will use this opportunity to develop firm friendships with each other and develop bonds that improve our cooperative efforts further. Thank you.”