The United States is preparing a new round of sanctions against North Korea, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday.

 This was reported by the Reuters agency.

 "We have a new set of sanctions measures that we are preparing at the moment," he told a conference in Seoul organized by the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and South Korean media group JoongAng.

 Sullivan, speaking via video link, declined to elaborate, but said Washington intended to use pressure and diplomacy to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

 According to him, US President Joe Biden is committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and he continues to adhere steadfastly to this goal, showing flexibility in working with partners to achieve it.

 Sullivan pointed to increased cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan, which have increased the number of joint military exercises.

 The U.S. is also working to make its strategic assets more prominent in the region, Sullivan said, referring to major weapons such as aircraft carriers and long-range bombers.

 North Korea has said denuclearization is off the table and has accused the United States and its allies of pursuing hostile policies, including sanctions, that have left it with no choice but to build up its military.

 The latest round of US sanctions in October targeted two Singapore-based companies and a Marshall Islands-based firm that Washington says support Pyongyang's weapons programs and its armed forces.

 In May, the United States imposed sanctions on two Russian banks due to North Korea's missile launches.

 Decades of US-led sanctions have not stopped North Korea's increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear weapons programs, and China and Russia have blocked recent efforts to impose additional UN sanctions.