The United States has reaffirmed its willingness to deal with North Korea bilaterally in hopes of recommencing the six-party nuclear talks.

In a regular news briefing on Friday, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood updated China, South Korea, Japan and Russia on the travel plans of U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Bosworth, as he makes his way around the Northeast Asian region to discuss the North Korean nuclear situation.

Wood noted that the six-party process remains at the core of efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, and that the United States is prepared to deal with the North bilaterally as a way to reinforce the multilateral process.

Wood stressed that the concerned parties must try to continue to bring Pyongyang back to the six-party talks, as the consensus opinion is that the multilateral framework is the most viable option for bringing about a verifiable denuclearization.