U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg is urging the five parties of the six-nation nuclear talks to send a unified message to North Korea regarding the North’s return to the talks.

Steinberg is visiting Hanoi, Vietnam, as part of a five-nation Asian tour.

During a news briefing there, he urged the five parties to send a unified message to North Korea that they are open to dialogue if the North is prepared to return to the six-party talks and reaffirm its commitment to complete denuclearization.

He said the U.S. believes that “a strong show of unity among all the other parties to the six-party talks should send a clear message to Pyongyang that there is clearly a preferable path that they should pursue and that the door is open for them to walk through.”

Steinberg's weeklong tour will also take him to Malaysia, China, South Korea and Japan.