Mark Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan and South Korea / Yonhap

The United States continues to support providing COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea despite the country's recent missile provocations, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

Mark Lambert, deputy assistant secretary of state for Japan and South Korea, also reiterated that the U.S. remains open to dialogue with the North to discuss any issue.

"The U.S. position remains unchanged even in light of these most recent escalatory actions. We continue to support humanitarian assistance and the provision of COVID-19 related assistance," he said in a virtual press briefing, organized by the Washington Foreign Press Center.

"We have always viewed humanitarian assistance as a separate issue from making progress and achieving complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he added.