US President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for transforming the country’s role in global security and helping to create closer trilateral ties with South Korea.

“Led by unwavering courage and moral clarity, Prime Minister Kishida transformed Japan’s role in the world,” Biden said in a statement.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden are photographed together at the White House in Washington on April 9, 2024. (Kyodo)

During his term, which began in October 2021, Kishida worked to dramatically increase annual defense spending and push policy changes to give the Japan Self-Defense Forces more options in an emergency, even under a constitution that rejects war.

“He has unveiled a significant new national security strategy,” Biden said.

The US president also said that Kishida, together with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, had taken “historic steps” toward a new era of trilateral cooperation between Washington and its key security allies in Asia, Tokyo and Seoul.

Kishida attended a trilateral summit with Biden and Yoon at Camp David near the U.S. capital a year ago, stressing the close partnership between the three sides and an improvement in relations between Tokyo and Seoul, which had been strained for years due to differences over bilateral history.

In April this year, Kishida became the first Japanese head of state in nine years to address Congress, reaffirming the importance of the alliance with the United States in the face of challenges such as China’s growing assertiveness and Russia’s invasion of the neighboring country beginning in 2022.

Earlier, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said at a press conference that Kishida was “an extraordinary friend of the United States” and expressed the country’s appreciation for “his steadfast partnership and visionary leadership.”

On Wednesday, Kishida abruptly announced that he would not seek re-election as leader of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will not remain in office as prime minister beyond the party’s chairman election next month.

Related coverage:

Kishida plans to resign as Japanese Prime Minister after withdrawing from LDP election campaign

China wants to stabilize relations with Japan even after Kishida’s resignation