North Korea has to stop its provocative actions: US

"North Korea has to stop with its provocative actions, with its belligerent rhetoric, and (it needs to) return to a constructive role with its partners in the Six-Party Talks," the State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

Asserting that the US goal was to denuclearize Korean Peninsula, Kelly said this would benefit not only the people of North Korea but also the region and the entire world.

The statement came as a team of US officials led by Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg has been visiting the region to meet with its partners and explore options and approaches directly with them.

"Ambassador Steinberg, of course, is going to have the same message to all of our partners, which is the need for a strong, unified response to this, to North Korea's defiance of the international community," he said.

Meanwhile, the State Department spokesman said the US was continuing with its deliberations at UN Security Council.

"Our goal is to make sure that North Korea understands that they have made some wrong choices, and we want to get them to reverse course, to come back to engagement with the international community," Kelly said.

We think this is in the interests of everybody involved -- of the North Koreans, of the people in the region, and the world, the States Department official added.

Reiterating that the US believes that North Korea's actions must have consequences, Kelly, however said: "But I am just not going to stand up here and prejudge one way or another the way we're going to go with it."

The best approach to demonstrating to North Korea that they have made some wrong choices is to show them that what they have done has consequences, he said.

"They've violated UN Resolution 1718, and we need take some concrete steps to show them that they are on the wrong path. We're doing it in a number of ways," Kelly said.

Responding to a question, Kelly said the US and Russia are on the same page, but refrained to make similar comment on China.

He said: "China is very actively involved with us, in consultations. They issued a strong statement on Monday, and they're playing a constructive role in our talks on how to respond to North Korea."