On December 20, Prime Minister Noda held a telephone conversation with President Obama for approximately 10 minutes from 10:30 A.M. (JST). The outline of the conversation is as follows (Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tsuyoshi Saito, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Nagahama, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Akihisa Nagashima, etc. joined from the Japanese side):

1. President Obama pointed out the importance of the coordination between Japan and the U.S. in the wake of the death of Kim Jong-il, Chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission. He also stated that the U.S. placed a high priority on security of its allies including Japan and would like to cooperate with other allied nations such as the Republic of Korea (ROK) given the current uncertain situation. President Obama further noted that he had been notified of the timely foreign ministerial meeting between Secretary Clinton and Minister Gemba and stated that the U.S. would like to continue to coordinate with Japan at all levels of the two countries.
   
   
2. Prime Minister Noda expressed his intention to ensure close coordination between Japan and the U.S., and among Japan, the U.S. and the ROK in taking all possible measures against any contingencies so that the death of Kim Jong-il would not have negative impacts on the situations in the Korean Peninsula. Regarding the abduction issue, he asked for continued understanding and cooperation from the U.S. under this new situation, and expressed his gratitude to the U.S. for its efforts to urge North Korea to take actions every time the U.S. held a dialogue with North Korea.
   
   
3. In response, President Obama stated that the U.S. would also continue to closely work together with Japan on issues such as the abduction, and that the U.S. policies would remain consistent.