President Moon Jae-in, right, talks with Stephen Biegun, fourth from left, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Yonhap

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said Monday that Washington will not give up on nuclear negotiations with North Korea, emphatically offering to hold talks with the communist nation while he is in the region.

Biegun also stressed the United States has no deadline, as the communist regime has been ratcheting up tensions to get Washington to make concessions in the deadlocked negotiations before its self-imposed year-end deadline.

"The U.S. does not have a deadline. We have a goal to fulfill the commitments the two leaders made during their meeting," he told reporters, referring to last year's summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"It is time for us to do our jobs. Let's get this done. We are here, and you know how to reach us," he added.

The U.S. and the North last held working-level nuclear talks in Sweden in October. But the talks yielded little progress, with the North accusing the U.S. of having come to the negotiating table "empty-handed."

Since then, Pyongyang has toughened its demands, telling the U.S. to remove "all obstacles" that threaten the security of the North and hamper its development. The demands are seen as calls for sanctions relief and security assurances. (Yonhap)