Ties discussed in Suga's first call with Trump

TOKYO－Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke with US President Donald Trump in a phone call on Sunday night, their first conversation since Suga took office last week.

In the talks that lasted about 20 minutes, the two leaders affirmed the importance of the Japan-US alliance and discussed the situation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as well as the COVID-19 response, according to local media.

They also agreed to cooperate on developing and distributing a vaccine and treatment for the deadly virus, an unnamed Japanese official told Kyodo News.