Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Friday that he is set to make a weeklong trip to the United States next week to cement the bilateral alliance in the face of an increasingly severe security environment in the Asia-Pacific region.Koizumi told a regular press conference that he will deliver a speech at the Honolulu Defense Forum in Hawaii on Monday before traveling to Los Angeles the following day and then to Washington, where he will meet with counterpart Pete Hegseth on Thursday."With Secretary Hegseth, I plan to have a frank discussion about the security environment as well …READ FULL ARTICLE
