U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the United States, China, Japan and South Korea are "absolutely united" in their insistence that North Korea denuclearize.
Kerry said Monday after meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Brunei that the only way to ensure peace and stability in the region is for North Korea to live up to its agreement from prior six-party talks to denuclearize.
"That the region will be better with the denuclearization and the possibilities of normal relationships, not just between the south and the north or china and North Korea, but between the United States and North Korea and the rest of the world, lies at the end of engaging in a serious set of steps to denuclearize and serious negotiations that could accompany that."
Kerry also met Monday with the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea as part of two days of meetings with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Earlier, he urged ASEAN to make progress on a code of conduct covering disputes over the South China Sea.