TOKYO (AFP) - US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Friday urged Myanmar's ruling junta to let in foreign aid workers amid a mounting death toll and the spread of disease following Cyclone Nargis.

"We call upon the authorities in Burma to open their doors to the generous assistance of the international community and to alleviate the disastrous suffering of their own people," Negroponte said, using Myanmar's former name.

Myanmar is in a "very desperate situation where both the United States and Japan want to provide humanitarian assistance," he told reporters on a visit to Tokyo.

"But so far at least, it has been difficult to get the kind of access necessary to be able to provide assistance. So we're both concerned about that," he said.

Negroponte was speaking after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura on a range of issues, including the crisis in Myanmar and North Korea's denuclearisation process.

Myanmar's official death toll from the cyclone is nearly 23,000 with twice as many missing. But local officials have said at least 80,000 died in a single area.

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