U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak speaks during a retirement celebration for her predecessor, Sung Kim, in Washington, March 13. Yonhap

The United States remains "always watchful" for the possibility of North Korea conducting "gray zone" activities short of a major attack, a U.S. diplomat said Monday, restating Washington sees no signs of the recalcitrant regime preparing for a near-term attack.

U.S. Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak made the remarks amid concerns that Pyongyang could undertake major provocations ahead of South Korea's parliamentary elections next month and the U.S. presidential election in November.

"I don't think we are on the precipice of war. We don't see any signals or evidence of a near-term attack. I also don't think it's in (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un's interest to launch a war," she said during an online forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"But of course, we are always watchful for anything below that — the gray zone activities," she added.

Pak stressed that the North will "manufacture a reason for provocative actions to fit their political needs or their technical needs."

Referring to the North's high-stakes defense projects unveiled at a key ruling party congress in early 2021, Pak noted that Pyongyang has a "to-do-list" when it comes to its weapons tests.

"They've also, since January of 2021, said that they are going to do a whole series of tests and develop new technologies," she said. "Hypersonic system is one ... the underwater nuclear vehicles, the solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile system, the military reconnaissance satellite."

The U.S. is "incredibly concerned" about all of these developments, she stressed.

What has also been worrisome is the North's hostile rhetoric that has accompanied missile and other weapons tests, Pak said.

"Kim Jong-un, since late last year, has talked about reunification out of the question now that South Korea is their primary enemy, which is different from their longstanding policy of reunification at some point," she said.

Despite the North's provocative acts, the U.S. envoy highlighted the need to engage in diplomacy with the regime.

"We always call for dialogue with the DPRK," she said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"We've reached out privately, publicly, through third parties to try to generate some sort of diplomacy with the DPRK because we think that's the only way that we get peace and security on the Korean Peninsula," she said.

Touching on U.S. officials' recent mention of "interim" steps toward the North's denuclearization, Pak reiterated that Joe Biden administration's policy remains unchanged.

Pak and Mira Rapp-Hooper, the U.S. National Security Council senior director for East Asia and Oceania, have signaled the possibility of Washington considering interim steps for a path toward denuclearization. Their remarks were construed as a sign of Washington being more willing to be flexible in its approach to the North's nuclear conundrum.

"The policy hasn't changed. Our goal is complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," she said. "We want dialogue, and there are lots of valuable discussions that we can have with the DPRK, including on risk reduction to reduce the risk of miscalculation or inadvertent escalation."

Commenting on the North's arms transfers to Russia, Pak said that Pyongyang is "not doing this for free."

"They are almost certainly looking for things like fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, ballistic missile technologies and other technologies or armored vehicles," she said.

"This is a pretty fraught moment, from my perspective, in terms of nonproliferation, what it means for actual war fighting, and what North Korea might be learning about their weapons systems because Russia is actually using it on the battlefield," she added. (Yonhap)