U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Wednesday it is "certainly possible" for North Korea to undertake a nuclear or missile test ahead of a key meeting of the Workers' Party next week.

"We can anticipate that there'll be more to come," Blinken said of North Korean provocations during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "It's certainly possible in advance of the Korean Workers' Party congress, which is to take place on May the 6th, that the regime will do something else -- another missile test, maybe even another nuclear test."

Such provocative acts are underscoring for China that the greatest source of instability in the region is North Korea, Blinken said, stressing that if China is concerned about instability, it should use its unique leverage with Pyongyang to rein in the regime.

Despite sanctions, the North's nuclear and missile development continues, Blinken said.

"As a result, they get closer to the day when they have the capacity to strike at our allies, at our partners and at the United States with a ballistic missile armed with a miniaturized nuclear warhead," he said. 

"That is simply unacceptable. This threat combined with an inexperienced leader who acts rashly makes it an urgent priority not only for us but increasingly for China," he added.

Unless China uses the influence with the North, Blinken said the U.S. "would be compelled to take steps to further defend our partners and allies and ourselves."

"While these steps would not be directed at China they might well be things that China does not like," he said. "And indeed that's exactly what we've done including beginning formal consultations on the deployment of a THAAD missile defense system to Korea to which China objects." (Yonhap)