North Korea Rebuffs Talks As A 'Crafty Trick'

North Korea has rejected the South's call to negotiate to resolve the nuclear crisis, calling it a "crafty trick".

The development came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Japan for the last leg of his four-day Asia tour aimed at reining in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

South Korea last week urged the North to discuss stalled operations at a joint factory complex and other issues.

But an unidentified spokesman at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Sunday that Pyongyang had no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandoned its confrontational posture.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN has vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal

It came as Mr Kerry held meetings in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who said North Korea could not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

Both countries reaffirmed their commitment deal with the threat posed by North Korea - and to hold talks with the regime if leader Kim Jong-Un was prepared to honour previous agreements on its missile and nuclear programme.

Mr Kerry said the US was "fully committed" to the defence of Japan on Sunday - just days after Pyongyang threatened the Japanese capital would be "consumed in nuclear flames".

In the past few weeks, North Korea has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US.

An anti-North Korea rally in Seoul on Sunday

Japan, separated by less than 1,000km (625 miles) of water and a frequent target of Pyongyang's anger, is in easy range, and has deployed Patriot missiles around Tokyo in anticipation of a missile launch by the North.

Speculation has been building since the North was reported to have loaded two mid-range Musudan missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities on its eastern coast.

The move last week prompted the US to bring forward its drone deployment to Japan and send an unmanned spy plane to its airbase in Misawa, in northern Japan.

The Musudan have never been tested but are believed to have a range of around 3,000km (1,860 miles), which could theoretically be pushed to 4,000km (2,485 miles).

US soldiers on a training exercise in Yeoncheon, northeast of Seoul

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam - which Pyongyang has threatened to strike.

In Seoul, Mr Kerry warned North Korea it would do everything within its means to defend its allies - and that it would be making a "huge mistake" if it launched one of its medium-range missiles during the current standoff.

Japan is a firm ally of the US, More than 35,000 US military personnel are based across the islands.

Both nations share the view that the solution to the North Korean problem lies with Beijing.

Sky's Alex Rossi, who is in Tokyo, said: "There is a feeling here that if North Korea does decide to do something stupid, Japan may very well be in the firing line.

Female Korean soldiers on patrol in their high heels

"Tomorrow is the birthday - the 101st anniversary of the birth of the founding father of North Korea, Kim Il Sung - and it is possible that a medium-range missile may be tested or used."

On Saturday, the top US diplomat met China's leaders to persuade them to push North Korea, whose sole main ally is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and return to the negotiating table over its suspected nuclear aims.

Both nations agreed to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis and to work together to ensure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Tensions have soared in the region since December, when North Korea test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it conducted its third nuclear test, which drew fresh UN sanctions.

Mr Kerry said there had been enough confrontational language on North Korea and he did not want to get into a cycle of threats and counter-threats with the reclusive nation.

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