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China is North Korea's only ally, with significant economic leverage at its disposal
US Secretary of State John Kerry is visiting China, in an attempt to urge Beijing to use its influence over North Korea to reduce regional tensions.
Speaking to President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Mr Kerry said the world was facing a "critical time".
Mr Kerry's four-day tour of Asia comes amid speculation that North Korea is preparing for a missile launch.
The US says there is no evidence North Korea can fire a nuclear warhead as suggested by a leaked US report.
North Korea has reportedly moved at least two Musudan ballistic missiles to its east coast.
A flurry of warlike statements from Pyongyang has prompted speculation that it might launch a missile - possibly on 15 April, when the country marks the 101st birthday of the nation's founder and former leader, Kim Il-sung.
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End QuoteDiplomatic prowess will be required in Mr Kerry's conversation with the Chinese in Beijing"
Since the UN imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea in February, its leadership has promised to restart a mothballed nuclear reactor, has shut an emergency military hotline to South Korea, and has urged diplomatic staff to leave, saying it cannot guarantee their safety.
The North says it has also been angered by joint US-South Korean military exercises.
Though North Korean rhetoric has been more bellicose than usual, analysts say it fits a long-standing pattern, and may be intended to boost the popularity of Kim Jong-un, who came to power last year.
'Defuse this tension'After arriving in Beijing on Saturday and holding talks with his counterpart, Wang Yi, Mr Kerry told Mr Xi the world was facing "a critical time with some very challenging issues".
Among them were Korean tensions but also "the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost", he said.
On Friday, during a visit to the South Korean capital, Seoul, Mr Kerry said the US would protect itself and its allies, and that his talks in Beijing would aim to "lay out a path that will defuse this tension".
Musudan missile
- The Musudan, also known as the Nodong-B or the Taepodong-X, is an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Its likely targets are Okinawa, Japan, and US bases in the Pacific
- Range estimates differ dramatically. Israeli intelligence suggests 2,500km, while the US Missile Defense Agency estimates 3,200km; other sources put the upper limit at 4,000km
- These differences are due in large part to the fact that the missile has never been tested publicly, according to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Its payload is also unknown
He said no country had a closer relationship with Pyongyang than China.
Beijing, like Washington, wanted denuclearisation on the peninsula, he said, adding: "If that's your policy, you've got to put some teeth into it."
He warned North Korean against any missile launch, saying it would be a "provocation and unwanted act" which would further isolate North Korea and its people who, he said "are desperate for food, not missile launches".
China is North Korea's only ally and major trading partner, but has grown increasingly frustrated with its growing belligerence.
The BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing said Mr Kerry will be pressuring China to use its economic leverage to force its rebellious ally to tone down its threats.
But in turn, China is pushing the US to do more to make North Korea feel secure, says our correspondent.
In Seoul, Mr Kerry voiced his support for the vision of a reunified Korean peninsula - so far a development neither Chinese nor Korean leadership want to see, she adds.
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North Korean television has been showing various celebrations despite its increasingly bellicose rhetoric
Russia has also expressed growing concern over North Korea and said on Friday that it had issued "an urgent appeal" to Pyongyang "to refrain from actions which could lead to further escalation of tension".
Some estimates suggest that the missiles North Korea has moved to its east coast could travel 4,000km (2,500 miles), although it is not believed that the Musudan has been tested before.
That reach would put US bases on the Pacific island of Guam within range.
A declassified section of a report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report had warned there was "moderate" confidence that Pyongyang had developed the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.
But Mr Kerry played down the report, and White House spokesman Jay Carney said Pyongyang had "not demonstrated the capability to deploy a nuclear-armed missile".
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