The U.S. believes that North Korea’s weapons programs could significantly destabilize the Northeast Asian region.

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told a news briefing Tuesday that the U.S. is concerned about North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, both of which could give the North a capability that is of concern to the region and potentially destabilizing.

He stressed that due to this, Washington continues to make clear to Pyongyang that it needs to be prepared to denuclearize. He said that the U.S. doesn’t want to see North Korea reach a point where it has both nuclear weapons and effective delivery systems.