North Korea says its armed forces are on a war footing
The US says it is urging China to use all its leverage to help rein in North Korea's "destabilising" actions.
US officials travelling with Secretary of State John Kerry
said Washington wanted Beijing to evoke "a sense of urgency" in its
talks with Pyongyang.
North Korea has ratcheted up tensions in the region, threatening nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has denied a report suggesting Pyongyang is able to mount nuclear warheads on missiles.
Earlier, a US Congressman leaked details of a Defense
Intelligence Agency study that, he said, assessed "with moderate
confidence" the North could fire a nuclear-armed missile, though with
"low reliability".
Pentagon spokesman George Little said later: "It would be
inaccurate to suggest that the North Korean regime has fully tested,
developed or demonstrated the kinds of nuclear capabilities referenced
in the passage."
President Obama: ''The United States will take all
necessary steps to protect its people and to meet obligations under our
alliances"
Although the North has carried out nuclear tests, it had been
thought it lacked the ability to make the weapons small enough to place
in a ballistic missile.
South Korea is currently on a high state of alert amid indications that the North is preparing for a missile test.
Pyongyang has moved two Musudan ballistic missiles to its
east coast. Estimates of their range vary, but some suggest the missiles
could travel 4,000km (2,500 miles).
That would put US bases on Guam within range, although it is not known whether the Musudan has been tested before.
Mr Kerry is travelling to Seoul on his first trip to Asia since becoming secretary of state.
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Musudan missile
- The Musudan, also known as the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is
an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa,
Japan, and US bases in the Pacific
- Range estimates differ dramatically. Israeli intelligence
suggests 2,500km, while the US Missile Defense Agency estimates 3,200km;
other sources put the upper limit at 4,000km
- These differences are due in large part to the fact that the
missile has never been tested publicly, according to the Center for
Nonproliferation Studies. Its payload is also unknown
A senior administration official
told reporters on board his plane: "It is no secret that China has most
leverage, most influence, with North Korea and I think fundamentally we
would want them to use some of that leverage because otherwise it is
very destabilising and it threatens the whole region."
The official added that, although Washington was not privy to
conversations between China and North Korea, "we would want China to
bring a sense of urgency, the need to stop this escalation, into that
debate".
"China has a huge stake in stability and the continued North
Korean pursuit of a nuclear armed missile capability is the enemy of
stability. That gives us and the Chinese a very powerful objective in
common, namely denuclearisation," the official said.
US President Barack Obama has urged Pyongyang to end its "belligerent approach... and to try to lower temperatures".
But he warned that while he preferred to see tensions
resolved through diplomatic means, "the United States will take all
necessary steps to protect its people".
Anniversary approaches
North Korea has been making bellicose threats against South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region
North Korea has increased its warlike rhetoric following fresh
UN sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February and joint
military manoeuvres by the US and South Korea.
The North says it will restart a mothballed nuclear reactor,
has shut an emergency military hotline to the South and has urged
countries to withdraw diplomatic staff, saying it cannot now guarantee
their safety.
However, in the past few days North Korea's media appear to
be in more of a holiday mood, due to the approach of Monday's
celebrations marking the birth of national founder Kim Il-sung - a
potential launch date for a new missile test.
On Thursday, foreign ministers from the G8 group of nations
condemned in the "strongest possible terms" North Korea's nuclear
weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
Following talks in London, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague
said that if the North conducted another missile launch or nuclear test
"we have committed ourselves to take further significant measures".