US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea on Monday, some two weeks after Pyongyang killed four South Koreans in its first shelling in decades on a civilian area.

"This meeting demonstrates the extraordinarily close coordination between the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan and our commitment to security on the Korean peninsula and stability in the region," a State Department statement said.

The United States organized the talks in Washington despite a call by China -- impoverished Pyongyang's main economic and political supporter -- for an emergency resumption of moribund six-nation negotiations on North Korea.

The six-nation talks -- which involve China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States -- agreed in 2005 and 2007 to provide aid and security guarantees to Pyongyang in exchange for the regime ending its nuclear program.

President Barack Obama's administration, despite its support for engagement with US adversaries, has refused to return to six-nation talks until North Korea makes clear that it will implement the previous agreements.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the top US military officer, said that China needed to "step up" its pressure on North Korea and that its call for six-nation talks "will not substitute for action."

"I believe that China's leadership has more influence in Pyongyang than any other country -- period. There is no other country that's close," said Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"So the six-party talks might be interesting, but it is going to come out of Beijing that this thing gets taken to a level where we can figure out a way to contain (North Korea's) reckless behavior and move ahead," Mullen said.

Mullen, who was speaking at the Center for American Progress think-tank, voiced fear that a resumption of talks would serve to "reward North Korea's provocative and destabilizing behavior in bargaining for new incentives."

In a show of support for Seoul, the United States and South Korean navies on Wednesday wrapped up the allies' biggest-ever joint maneuvers which saw jet fighters thunder through the sky above a US carrier battle group.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called in Beijing for all sides in the Korean crisis to avoid actions that "inflame the situation."

"The parties concerned should keep calm and exercise restraint, and work to bring the situation back onto the track of dialogue and negotiation," Yang said.

Mullen said that that the exercises were planned before the crisis and that the United States kept China abreast, as he appealed for greater dialogue with the rising Asian power.

Reclusive North Korea is in the midst of a political transition, with leader Kim Jong-Il handing over to his youngest son Kim Jong-Un.

Some analysts point to the transition as a reason for the rise in incidents involving North Korea, which recently boasted of the sophistication of its uranium enrichment plant.

A visiting US nuclear scientist called the plan with 2,000 centrifuges "ultra-modern" and "stunning."

North Korea last month rained shells and rockets on a small South Korean border island, killing four people, wounding 18 and destroying two dozen houses in its first attack on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.

US and South Korean investigators have also blamed North Korea for the March sinking of South Korea's Cheonan corvette, in which 46 sailors were killed.

"The ante is going up and I think... the stakes in terms of stability in the region are going up," Mullen said.

A senior North Korean official, Choe Thae-Bok, is visiting China and on Wednesday the two countries held their first known meeting since the November 23 artillery strike on the South.

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