Kerry warns North Korea but says US wants peaceful solution

US secretary of state John Kerry vowed today that the United States would protect its Asian allies against any provocative acts by North Korea but stressed that Washington wants a peaceful solution to rising tensions in the region.

The North has threatened for weeks to attack the United States, South Korea and Japan since new UN sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February. Speculation has mounted of a new missile launch or nuclear test.

"I think it is really unfortunate that there has been so much focus and attention in the media and elsewhere on the subject of war, when what we really ought to be talking about is the possibility of peace. And I think there are those possibilities," Mr Kerry told a news conference in Tokyo after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.

Mr Kerry was in Japan for the final stop on an Asian tour aimed at solidifying support for curbing North Korea's nuclear programme, and reassuring US allies.

He said the United States would "do what was necessary" to defend its allies Japan and South Korea, but added: "Our choice is to negotiate, our choice is to move to the table and find a way for the region to have peace."

Mr Kerry also sought to clarify his comments made in Beijing yesterday, which some took to suggest he might be offering to remove recently boosted missile defence capabilities in Asia if China persuaded North Korea to abandon its atomic programmes.

The Pentagon in recent weeks has announced plans to position two Aegis guided-missile destroyers in the western Pacific and a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missile defence system to Guam.

"The president of the United States deployed some additional missile defence capacity precisely because of the threat of North Korea. And it is logical that if the threat of North Korea disappears because the peninsula denuclearises, then obviously that threat no longer mandates that kind of posture. But there have been no agreements, no discussions, there is nothing actually on the table with respect to that," Mr Kerry said.

Mr Kishida told the same news conference that the two allies want Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

"We agreed that North Korea should cease provocative speech and behaviour and show it is taking concrete action toward denuclearisation," he said. "We cannot allow North Korea in any way to possess nuclear weapons."

Pyongyang, which was preparing to celebrate the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung tomorrow, reiterated it had no intention of abandoning its atomic arms programmes.

"We will expand in quantity our nuclear weapons capability, which is the treasure of a unified Korea ... that we would never barter at any price," Kim Young-nam, North Korea's titular head of state, told a gathering of officials and service personnel applauding Kim Il-Sung.

The KCNA news agency also rejected as a "cunning trick" South Korean president Park Geun-hye's suggestion last week of holding talks with the North.

The South Korean capital, Seoul, displayed the calm it has shown throughout the crisis. Residents strolled in bright sunshine a day after the city's World Cup stadium was jammed with 50,000 mostly young fans of local rapper Psy.

Yesterday, Mr Kerry met leaders in China, the North's sole diplomatic and financial benefactor, and said China and the United States were committed to "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner".

During his first stop in South Korea, where the United States has 28,000 troops stationed, Mr Kerry said North Korea, furious at joint US-South Korean military drills, would be making a "huge mistake" if it were to launch a missile.

He also said China was in a position to influence the North's policy and had to put "some teeth" into efforts to persuade Pyongyang to alter its policies.