TOKYO (Reuters) -- The United States has no hostile intent towards North Korea and hopes it responds positively to offers for talks on its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, a U.S. envoy said on Tuesday as he met Asian allies.
The meeting between top officials of the United States, Japan and South Korea on ways to end a standoff with North Korea over is nuclear ambitions came a day after it said it had tested a new long-range cruise missile.
“The United States has no hostile intent towards the DPRK,” the U.S. envoy for North Korea, Sung Kim, said in opening remarks at the talks in Tokyo, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name - the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“We hope that the DPRK will respond positively to our multiple offers to meet without preconditions.”
North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and developed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump held three meetings with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un but without progress on the U.S. demand that North Korea gives up its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for sanctions relief.
President Joe Biden’s administration has said it would explore diplomacy to achieve the goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea but would not seek a grand bargain with Kim.
North Korea has said it sees no sign of policy changes from the United States, citing issues such as sanctions as well as joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which it says are preparations for war against it.
In what is widely seen in the region as a show of defiance, North Korea’s state media announced on Monday successful tests of a new long-range cruise missile that analysts said could be its first such weapon with nuclear capabilities.