US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told a high-level security forum in Singapore that North Korea's defiant acts, including an atomic bomb test earlier this week, could spark an arms race with serious consequences for Asia.

"Our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state," Gates said.

Reiterating the US commitment to defend Asian partners from attack, he said any transfer of nuclear weapons and material by Pyongyang to other countries or "non-state entities" would be "a grave threat to the United States and our allies."

North Korea would be held "fully accountable" for the consequences, he said.

Gates met with his counterparts from South Korea and Japan to discuss the nuclear issue on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual meeting organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"We have pledged to craft a common response to such situations," South Korea's Lee Sang Hee said after the nearly hour-long meeting.

Gates said it was the first trilateral meeting involving the defence chiefs of the three countries.

The nuclear tensions in the Korean peninsula were supposed to be resolved by six-party talks also involving China, Russia and North Korea.

They had agreed in 2007 to provide aid and security guarantees to North Korea in return for denuclearisation but Pyongyang stormed out of the accord last month after the UN Security Council unanimously condemned its earlier long-range missile launch.

"The six-party talks is still the prime vehicle but at the same time we need to be thinking about what more we need to do to exert pressure and prepare for our own defences," a US defence official said after Saturday's meeting.

In a statement Saturday the Kremlin said Moscow and Tokyo agreed that the North Korean nuclear tests merit a strong response and threaten international security.

The statement said that in a telephone conversation Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed "that one has to seriously respond (to the tests), which represent a challenge to international security".

Tensions have been running high since Kim Jong-Il's regime said it staged its second nuclear bomb test on Monday and renounced the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.

The communist North has warned it could launch an attack on the South, which like Japan hosts US military forces, and vowed to respond strongly to any fresh sanctions imposed by the United Nations.

North Korea fired another short-range missile Friday and US satellite photos have revealed vehicle activity at two sites which suggested it may be preparing to launch another long-range missile, US defence officials said in Washington.

Long-range missiles would extend North Korea's ability to strike other countries with nuclear warheads, but Gates said Saturday that he saw no immediate danger to the United States.

However, he said Washington "will not stand idly by as North Korea builds the capability to wreak destruction on any target in Asia -- or on us."

In a keynote address to the forum, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called for a "unified demonstration of strength" from the international community and suggested that tough financial sanctions might work on Pyongyang.

As the world awaited Pyongyang's next move, a top Chinese military official appealed for calm.

"The Korean peninsula should move towards denuclearisation and we hope that all parties concerned will remain cool-headed and take measured measures to address the problem," said Lieutenant General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the general staff at the People's Liberation Army.

China is seen as the nation with the most leverage on the diplomatically isolated regime in Pyongyang as UN Security Council continue to discuss fresh sanctions against North Korea.

earlier related report
US, Japan, SKorea forging 'common response' on NKorea
The United States, Japan and South Korea agreed here Saturday to forge a "common response" to North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, amid signs that Pyongyang was preparing a fresh missile test.

The news came after US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates met with his Japanese counterpart Yasukazu Hamada and South Korea's Lee Sang Hee on the sidelines of a top-level regional security forum in Singapore.

"We have pledged to craft a common response to such situations," Lee told reporters after a nearly hour-long meeting.

Pyongyang staged its second-ever nuclear test earlier this week and said it was no longer bound by the armistice that ended the Korean war more than 50 years ago, raising tensions on the peninsula.

An intelligence source quoted by the South's Yonhap news agency said the North could be preparing to stage another long-range missile test. US defence officials said activity had been detected at two launch sites in the North.

Gates said it was the first meeting involving the defence ministers from the three countries.

Lee said that at a time when North Korea "is posing military threats against the region, I believe trilateral defence ministerial talks cannot have come at a better time."

Hamada said the three countries had agreed to cooperate on other "global challenges" but did not give further details.

The meeting had been scheduled before North Korea's nuclear test on Monday, which drew international condemnation, and analysts said any consensus the three partners achieve will require support from regional power China.

Speaking to the Singapore conference before their meeting, Gates warned the United States would not accept a nuclear-armed North Korea and vowed Washington would come to the defence of its allies in the event of an attack by Pyongyang.

"Our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear state," Gates said.

"North Korea's nuclear programme and actions constitute a threat to regional peace and security. We unequivocally reaffirm our commitment to the defence of our allies in the region."

Hamada told the conference his country was ready to protect itself.

Lee said Seoul was similarly prepared but hoped Pyongyang would return to the six-party talks aimed at fully resolving the nuclear issue.

The multilateral negotiations came to a halt in April when North Korea pulled out following global criticism of its launch of a long-range rocket.

"The six-party talks are still the prime vehicle but at the same time we need to be thinking about what more we need to do to exert pressure and prepare for our own defences," a US defence official said after the three-way meeting.

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