A senior U.S. State Department official in charge of dealing with North Korea reiterated Washington's stance that it is ready to hold talks with the North and stressed the importance of China in the process.

The comments were made by Alex Wong, deputy U.S. secretary of state for North Korea at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, during a Senate confirmation hearing conducted via video conferencing.

Wong went on to say that the State Department has a strong team ready to negotiate and also stressed the need to continue pressuring the North in order to prod it to return to the table.

The U.S. and North Korea have not held any denuclearization talks since February 2019, when U.S. President Donald Trump cut short his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, citing differences over the extent of the North's nuclear dismantlement.