Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder holds a press briefing at the Pentagon Arlington, Virginia, Oct. 18. AFP-Yonhap

The United States maintains a whole range of responses it may take when necessary against North Korean provocations, a Department of Defense spokesperson said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder also said the U.S. continues to closely monitor the recalcitrant country for actions that may warrant such a response.

"In terms of how we respond to individual provocations, for example, missile launches, we are going to maintain a whole range of potential responses," he said when asked why the U.S. did not intercept missiles fired in recent North Korean missile tests.

"As you have seen INDOPACOM (Indo-Pacific Command) say in the past when they detected those launches, those launches have been determined ultimately not to pose any threat to U.S. forces territory or that of our allies," he added. "But it's something we will continue to work on closely or monitor closely, rather."

North Korea fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles in eight rounds of missile tests staged in just three weeks from Sept. 25.