Today, 29 years ago, on April 16, 1996 (February 29, 1996), Japan and the United States signed the Joint Declaration on the Security of the United States of America. After US President Clinton's follow-up visit to South Korea in 1996, on April 16, a three-day official visit to Japan, the two heads of state after the talks issued a long-standing Joint Declaration on the Security of the United States of America. US Ambassador to Japan Mondeo said that the summit was "the most important time in the history of post-war relations between the United States of America and Japan".