US willing to defend Japan, says Kerry John Kerry (L) plans to discuss North Korea with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida on Sunday John Kerry, US secretary of state, reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Japan's defence in Tokyo on Sunday as he completed a tour of Asia aimed at cementing support for the denuclearisation of North Korea and reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula. Following discussions with South Korean and Chinese leaders over the previous two days, Mr Kerry urged Pyongyang to "come to the table" to resolve the escalating tensions through diplomacy. "The US will do what is necessary to defend our allies against these provocations, but our choice is to negotiate," he said after meeting Fumio Kishida, Japan's foreign minister. Mr Kerry's visit came a day before North Korea state founder Kim Il-sung's birthday on April 15, which Pyongyang usually celebrates with a display of its military might. On Sunday Pyongyang repeated that it would not abandon its nuclear weapons, describing them as its "treasured" guarantor of security. The dialogue offer was "a cunning ploy to hide the South's policy of confrontation and mislead its responsibility for putting the Kaesong industrial complex into a crisis," the North's official KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea as saying. Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, on Sunday said the international community "needs to make North Korea understand that the situation will become progressively severe." "I want to work with the US, South Korea, China and Russia to send the message that they should not act provocatively or fire a missile," Mr Abe told reporters on a visit to the island of Iwo Jima, scene of fierce fighting during the second world war. A day earlier, on Mr Kerry's first visit to China as secretary of state, he and Yang Jiechi, the country's top diplomat, pledged a joint commitment to handle the crisis. "We are able - the United States and China - to underscore our joint commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner," Mr Kerry told reporters. "We agreed that this is critically important for the stability of the region and indeed for the world and for all of our non-proliferation efforts," he added. Mr Yang reiterated Beijing's longstanding line that talks, not military action, were needed to resolve the North Korean nuclear stand-off. "The Chinese stance has been consistent and clear," Mr Yang, the state councillor responsible for foreign affairs, said at a joint news conference alongside Mr Kerry. "We maintain that the issue should be handled and resolved peacefully through dialogue and consultation," Mr Yang said. Properly addressing the Korean nuclear issue serves the common interests of all parties. It is also the shared responsibility of all parties. Mr Kerry also met China's two leaders, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. According to official transcripts of their meetings, Mr Li suggested that military action would be self-defeating. The escalation of trouble on the [Korean] peninsula and in the region will hurt the interests of all parties. "It would be like picking up a stone to hit your enemies but crushing your own foot instead," Mr Li said. Mr Yang called for a return to a 2005 aid-for-denuclearisation agreement that began to unravel within a year when North Korea tested a nuclear bomb in 2006. He also pushed for a resumption of the six-party talks - involving the two Koreas, China, the US, Japan and Russia - that fell apart in 2008 when North Korea quit the negotiating table. China has shown signs of exasperation with Kim Jong-eun's nuclear test in February and his government's threat to carry out attacks on South Korea. But Beijing is extremely wary of putting too much pressure on North Korea, for fear of a regime collapse unleashing a flood of refugees into China and potentially bringing the US military up to the Chinese border. Maintaining the uneasy but generally peaceful status quo, while gradually pushing for North Korea to modernise its economy, has formed the crux of China's approach to Pyongyang. But Beijing's influence appears limited. Some observers believe that Mr Kim's belligerent stance in recent months is in part a way of asserting his independence from China. In Seoul on Friday, Mr Kerry called for dialogue with Pyongyang, warning North Korea that it would be making a "huge mistake" if it fired off a missile. Japan has deployed missile interceptors amid fears that Pyongyang could launch intermediate missiles to mark Kim Il-sung's birthday, after the North moved two of its intermediate missiles to the east coast. The US and its allies have affirmed their willingness this week to implement the 2005 aid-for-denuclearisation deal, urging North Korea to take "meaningful" steps for denuclearisation.