US urges North Korea to stop missile tests and return to talks

US special representative for North Korea Sung Kim (right) speaks during a briefing after a meeting with South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs Noh Kyu-duk in Seoul (Ahn Young-joon/Pool/AP)

A senior US diplomat has urged North Korea to refrain from additional missile tests and resume nuclear diplomacy between the countries, days after the North fired off its first underwater-launched ballistic missile in two years.

Sung Kim, the top US official on North Korea affairs, spoke after meeting South Korean officials to discuss North Korea’s recent missile tests that have come amid a long-running stalemate in nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.