US Ready to Engage in Serious, Sustained Diplomacy With North Korea

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States is ready to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy with North Korea and continues to take action to prevent the latter from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, the State Department said on Thursday, following Pyongyang's latest projectile launches.

According to spokesman Ned Price, the US continues "to take action alongside the international community to prevent the advancement of the DPRK’s WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and ballistic missile programs following recent launches."

"We remain prepared to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy just as we continue to take very seriously the provocations that we've seen from the DPRK," he said during a press briefing.

Washington has no hostile intent toward North Korea, continues to seek dialogue and is prepared to meet with the country’s leadership without preconditions, Price added.

The US still has not received any response from Pyongyang to the proposal to engage constructively, the official noted.

North Korea has conducted six missile launches earlier this month, including tests of alleged hypersonic missiles. The latest launch took place on Thursday.

Yonhap news agency reported earlier in the day, that North Korea said on Friday it had test-fired a long-range cruise missile and a tactical surface-to-surface missile (SSM) earlier this week.