The U.S. Department of State said on Tuesday that Washington has no hostile intent toward North Korea, emphasizing diplomatic efforts to further engage the regime. 

A department spokesperson issued the position in response to an inquiry by Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency, adding, the U.S. remains committed to the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

The spokesperson said the U.S. is prepared to meet with Pyongyang without preconditions and engage in sincere and continuous diplomacy and hopes the North will respond positively to the U.S.' outreach. 

The spokesperson reaffirmed that the U.S. calls for a calibrated, practical approach that is open and willing to engage in diplomacy with Pyongyang to make concrete progress that increases the security of the United States, its allies, and its deployed forces.

Meanwhile, regarding the North’s display of weapons developed in recent years during a defense exhibition in Pyongyang this week, the U.S. official said that the North’s weapons of mass destruction and its ballistic missile program are becoming a threat to international peace and security and the nonproliferation regime.

The statement comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said earlier this week that there are no grounds to believe the U.S. is not hostile to his country.