Powell, who was here seeking Japanese input on how to bring the Stalinist state back to the table, denied Pyongyang's persistent allegations of "hostile" US intent and said Washington and Tokyo both felt "a sense of urgency" in ending the crisis through the six-nation talks.

"The sooner North Korea understands that there is only one way to solve this problem -- and that is through the six-party framework -- the better off we will be," Powell told reporters after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura.

Powell, visiting 10 days before the US election in which North Korea has been an issue, noted the United States and others were prepared to give North Korea significant energy and economic assistance in return for a complete and verifiable dismantlement of its nuclear weapons programs.

Those offers were made at the last round of six-party talks in Beijing in June. But North Korea refused to attend a fourth session scheduled for September and says it won't return until the United States drops its "hostile" attitude.

It made that case again on Friday, labelling as "undisguised hostile acts" a 22-nation naval exercise on seizing weapons shipments to be held off the Japanese coast this week and a new US law designed to promote human rights in North Korea.

"Neither of these actions are hostile acts toward North Korea," Powell said.

"They are not for the purpose of derailing the six-party talks, they are expressions of concern that the international community has about the behavior of the North Korean government."

One of the stated goals of the three-day naval drill known as the Proliferation Security Initiative is to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction by and to North Korea. But Powell denied the maneuvers were aimed at Pyongyang.

"The only thing North Korea should be concerned about is whether or not they are going to be caught in the act of participating in this kind of illicit traffic," Powell said.

"This is not hostile to any nation that is acting in an appopriate manner."

The six-nation talks include Japan, China and South Korea -- the countries on Powell's Asian tour -- along with the United States, Russia and North Korea itself.

Parallel to the six-party talks, Japan has been engaging North Korea for more information on Japanese kidnapped by Pyongyang agents during the Cold War. New talks between Japan and North Korea are slated for November in Pyongyang.

Japan will use the occasion to push for a resumption of nuclear talks, the foreign minister said.

"Of course we will receive information on the abduction issue but we will also try to push strongly for the resumption of six-party talks," Machimura said.

Powell reiterated that North Korea would not win concessions by simply agreeing to attend a new round of talks on its nuclear ambitions.

"The provision of assistance of the kind North Korea needs ... can only come when North Korea has made it clear that they are prepared to use the six-party framework as a way of dealing with this problem and eliminating their nuclear weapons programs and in a verifiable manner," he said.

On Saturday Pyongyang's state media said the country would be compelled "to double its deterrent force" unless the United States dropped its confrontational posture.

North Korea is believed to have enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear bombs and is thought to have already produced several such weapons.

In rejecting North Korea's conditions, Powell said Washington would not sweeten its package. He vowed not to play along with Pyongyang's negotiating strategy, which many believe is driven by the November 2 US presidential election.

President George W. Bush has insisted on dealing with the crisis in a multilateral setting while his Democratic challenger John Kerry advocates parallel direct US-North Korean talks, something Pyongyang has long sought.

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