Secretary of State John Kerry has renewed a US pledge to support South Korea against its hostile northern neighbour, after talks in Seoul with President Park Geun-hye and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.
Kerry said at a press conference with President Geun-hye that South Korea and the US were "very much aligned and very supported of each others' positions" and added that the international community was "all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power".
"The rhetoric that we're hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable - by any standard - and I am here to make it clear today on behalf of President Obama and the citizens of the United States and our bilateral security agreement, that the United States will, if needed, defend our allies and defend ourselves."
He said the US had “lowered its rhetoric” in order to find a way for "reasonableness to prevail".
Secretary Kerry will travel on to Beijing, where he is expected to urge the Chinese government to use its influence, adding that it is "clear to everybody in the world that no country in the world has as close a relationship or as significant an impact on [North Korea] than China".
