WASHINGTON: A US envoy headed to Asia on Saturday saying he would seek a united front to prevent "further provocations" by North Korea after the regime's defiant rocket launch.
Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, will arrive Sunday in Japan before stops in fellow US allies South Korea and Singapore, along with emerging US partner India.
Before his departure, Campbell praised the "swift and sure response from the international community" since North Korea carried out what the regime said was an unsuccessful bid to put a satellite into orbit Friday.
"There is a very strong determination among international partners in the Asia-Pacific region to send a very clear message to discourage further provocations from North Korea," Campbell told reporters at Dulles airport near Washington.
A pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan and South Korean intelligence have said that the authoritarian state may carry out a third nuclear test, possibly calling it retaliation for condemnation of its launch.
The United States has sought a firm but low-key condemnation of the launch. It has suspended a plan to deliver badly needed food assistance to the impoverished country but has not said it would seek a fresh UN resolution.
The United States and South Korea fear that North Korea's rocket, which disintegrated within minutes of takeoff, was a disguised test of a long-range missile.
The launch came as Pyongyang celebrates on Sunday the centennial of the birth of Kim Il-Sung, the late founder of the world's only communist dynasty.