US President George W Bush has said America remains concerned about North Korea's uranium enrichment activities, which the North has denied.
But, speaking after talks with Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda ahead of Monday's G8 summit in Japan, he acknowledged North Korea had addressed some concerns.
Mr Fukuda said he would attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, which other leaders have vowed to miss. The G8 summit is being held at a resort on the northern island of Hokkaido.
North Korea handed over a long-delayed list of its nuclear activities to Washington on 26 June.
But Tokyo is worried that plans by the US to remove North Korea from its list of states sponsoring terrorism will undermine attempts to free some of its citizens, allegedly abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 80s.
Mr Bush promised Mr Fukuda that he would "not abandon" the question of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
Asked by reporters about the ailing US economy, the American leader said he was committed to a strong dollar.
"Our economy is not growing as robustly as we'd like..." he said.
"The United States believes in a strong dollar policy and believes the strength of our economy will be reflected in the dollar."
Speaking at their joint news conference, Mr Fukuda officially announced he would attend the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
The Group of Eight (G8) consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Leaders began arriving on Sunday. Mr Bush arrived in time to celebrate his 62nd birthday in Japan.
China, India and South Africa will be among other key nations attending.
Braced for protests
Japan has spent a record sum of money and deployed about 20,000 police to seal off the summit at the remote lakeside resort of Toyako.
Several thousand demonstrators marched through Sapporo, the city closest to the venue, on Saturday, demanding that G8 leaders take action on global warming, poverty and rising food prices.
Four people were arrested in minor scuffles with police.
Violent anti-globalisation marches have marred past G8 meetings.
Last year, Japanese officials said this summit would be about climate change and reaching agreement on a post-Kyoto Accord framework to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Fukuda had said he would like to get agreement on 50% overall reductions in greenhouse gases by 2050.
But the rising food and oil prices and their effect on the global economy and the world's poorest nations have moved up the agenda.
Mugabe talks
South African President Thabo Mbeki will attend the summit, fresh from crisis discussions in Zimbabwe on Saturday with President Robert Mugabe about last month's disputed election.
He has been the chief regional negotiator on the Zimbabwe crisis, and has been trying to persuade Mr Mugabe to form a government of national unity.
The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, pulled out of last month's second round presidential election vote, citing campaign violence.
On the way to Japan, a White House official said that the G8 would "strongly condemn what Mugabe has done".
A small group of African states has joined the European Union, the US and other Western nations in criticising the way the election was run.
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