WASHINGTON, December 1. /TASS/. The US Administration is open for a ‘serious and sustained’ dialogue with the authorities of North Korea without any preconditions, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.
"We are open to serious and sustained dialogue with the DPRK," he said. "We've made clear in both public and private communications that we have no hostile intent towards the DPRK, we are prepared to meet without any preconditions."
"And yet Pyongyang has today completely rejected this sincere outreach," he noted. Sullivan said that if North Korea opts for taking a different track, the United States is "prepared to explore practical steps that would increase regional security and address the interests of both sides."
"We obviously have no illusions about the challenge we're up against about the pace and intensity of testing, and about the difficulty in achieving the ultimate objective that we share with our closest allies," the US official stated.
Sullivan reiterated that the US objective is the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"The north star of our policy remains as it has been since day one of the administration which is the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. And that's a goal that we share with both the ROK [South Korea] and Japan. It is a goal that we will continue to pursue in close coordination and alignment."
Sullivan stated that the US administration is pursuing "a policy through a combination of pressure and diplomacy to arrive at the ultimate objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
According to him, the US administration is currently in work on a new package of sanctions regarding North Korea.
"We've also made clear all along and, even as we continue to respond to these missile tests with closer trilateral security and military cooperation, closer intelligence cooperation and closer cooperation around the implementation of sanctions measures. We have a new set of sanction measures coming forward," Sullivan added.
On November 18, North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the day after the launch that the test of the Hwasong-17 missile was successful. According to South Korean military experts, this missile can fly more than 15,000 kilometers and reach the US mainland.