U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell visited Seoul on Monday to discuss how the two allies should deal with North Korea, which launched a rocket Friday.

Campbell met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Lim Sung-nam. Lim plans to visit Washington to meet with his U.S. counterpart Glyn Davies and other officials from Tuesday until Thursday.

Campbell arrived in South Korea after making a two-day trip to Japan. Campbell is also scheduled to visit India and Singapore before returning to Washington on Thursday. Campbell’s regional tour came as Pyongyang admitted the rocket launch had failed and the U.N. Security Council immediately convened.

He told reporters in Tokyo Sunday that further provocations from the North would be “most unwelcome.”

The member states of the U.N. Security Council and G8 have a sense of “very strong condemnation of the provocative action that North Korea has taken that is in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Campbell said.

The U.S. and its allies made clear and determined efforts to send a strong message against further provocations, he said.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)