Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday at a graduation ceremony of the National Defense Academy that Japan should strengthen its security alliance with the United States.

"There is a need to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance while steadily upgrading our country's national security platform in order to protect the people's lives, health and property," Abe was quoted as saying by Kyodo News in southern Japan's Kanagawa prefecture.

Abe said that upgrade of the Defense Agency to a ministry in January enabled Tokyo to "make clear our country's stance of working for national defense and peace in the international community."

The National Defense Academy has a total of 421 graduates this year, including 30 women and 10 students from Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam.