North Korea has made progress in missile program during the Olympics

Foreign Minister Taro Kono is planning to visit the United States later in the month for talks on dealing with North Korea once the Pyeongchang Winter Paralympics wrap up, an official said Saturday.

Several officials are warning that a diplomatic solution should remain the goal when it comes to North Korea, and that there are other ways to stop the country from further missile development, including keeping up economic and political pressure. Multiple officials cautioned that a diplomatic solution now remains the administration's focus - and that there are ways to block North Korea's missile program short of all-out war.

"However, the hostile forces led by the U.S. labeled the exercise of this legitimate right as a "threat to global peace" and misused the voting mechanism of the UN Security Council to cook up several "sanctions resolutions" in an attempt to deprive the DPRK of its self-defensive right".

A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman was quoted by state media KCNA news agency as saying "We will neither beg for dialogue nor evade the military option claimed by the U.S.".

The party's spokeswoman Kim Hyun said that sending an envoy to the North will advance inter-Korean relations, have a positive effect on the improvement of North Korea-U.S. ties and create opportunities for denuclearization.

North Korea reiterated on Saturday that it was willing to talk to the United States but said it would never sit with any precondition. The sanctions also target 28 cargo ships, including those from North Korea, China and Singapore.

USA officials have said that North Korea has used past negotiations to win economic concessions while continuing to advance its nuclear weapons program.

The US is due to begin joint exercises with Seoul in early April, a South Korean presidential security adviser said earlier this week, as quoted by Yonhap news agency.

The North sent delegations to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Pyeongchang Olympics and they met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

North Korea is also widely suspected of assassinating Kim Jong Nam - the half-brother of DPRK leader Kim Jong UN - with a deadly nerve agent in Malaysia previous year.

President Donald Trump also warned of a "phase two" that could be "very, very unfortunate for the world" if the steps did not work.