U.S., Japan say won't accept nuclear-armed N.Korea

TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States and Japan agreed on Monday they cannot accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, saying they are deeply concerned about recent "destabilizing" actions by the isolated communist state.

"We absolutely cannot accept that North Korea will have nuclear weapons," Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka said after meeting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg.

North Korea raised tension in the region after conducting a nuclear test last week, which put it closer to having a working atomic bomb, and test-firing a barrage of short-range missiles.

South Korean media reported on Monday that Pyongyang could test-fire this month a long-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory.

Steinberg said relevant countries have been holding productive discussions on what steps they can take at the United Nations Security Council and elsewhere to make clear to Pyongyang that its recent actions are "a bad path to go down."

"We stand united in making clear our deep concerns about North Korea's highly destabilizing actions," Steinberg told reporters in Tokyo after meeting with Japanese officials.

"We reaffirm our commitment to work together along with South Korea, China and Russia to return North Korea to the path of complete and verifiable denuclearization," Steinberg added.

Steinberg is leading a U.S. delegation to Asia this week to consult on how to respond to North Korea's latest nuclear test.

As six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program have not produced the results that member nations have hoped for, Yabunaka said he saw the need to consider a new approach to make the framework more effective.

"We need to think about how to proceed from now. We should reflect on the current situation and how much our approach so far has succeeded and think about a new approach," Yabunaka told a news conference.

But Yabunaka also stressed that the six-party talks remained an effective framework.

In Manila, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Washington was not in a hurry to look for options other than six-party talks on North Korea.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal