Hiroshima: The United States is prepared to "ratchet up" pressure on North Korea after its latest provocations but remains open to talks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said today.


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"It is still possible we will ratchet up (the pressure) even more depending on the actions of the DPRK (North Korea)," Kerry told reporters after a G7 meeting in Hiroshima.


"But we have made it clear... We are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty" on the Korean peninsula, he said, repeating that such a move would depend on North Korea's denuclearisation.


Kerry had said in February that a denuclearised North Korea could one day enter talks with Washington on a treaty formally ending the Korean War of 1950-53.


The conflict ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty. The US insists that Pyongyang must denuclearise as a condition for talks on a peace pact.


The State Department confirmed in February that Pyongyang had reached out to Washington in a tentative bid to discuss a treaty, but said its January nuclear test had derailed the initiative.


The North said Saturday said it had successfully tested an engine designed for an inter-continental ballistic missile that would "guarantee" an eventual nuclear strike on the US mainland.


It was the latest in a series of claims of significant breakthroughs in nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.