The United States has "no interest" in holding talks on a peace treaty with North Korea, Washington's chief nuclear enovy said Tuesday, stressing that the top focus should be denuclearization of the communist nation.

North Korea renewed its demand for a peace treaty with the U.S. in a Foreign Ministry statement issued Saturday, less than a day after President Park Geun-hye and President Barack Obama held summit talks and reaffirmed their commitment to the North's denuclearization.

Officials in Seoul have rejected the idea as an attempt to shift the focus away from denuclearization.

"With regard to the North Korean statement suggesting we enter into peace treaty discussions, we have no interest in entering into any such discussions," Amb. Sung Kim, special representative for North Korea policy, said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

"For us, the priority focus has to be the nuclear issue. As they often do, I'm afraid the North Koreans have their priorities wrong by suggesting that we sort of jump some steps, some very important steps, and start peace treaty negotiations," Kim said.

Kim said that the U.S. wants to make sure that negotiations with the North resume "with the right amount of focus and commitment from the North Koreans that the goal is denuclearization."

"And frankly at the moment, we can't even get the North Koreans, as you mentioned the Foreign Ministry statement, we can't even get the North Koreans to focus on denuclearization as a goal.

So that's why have not resumed any negotiations," he said.

The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war. Signing a peace treaty has been one of the North's long-running goals, but the U.S. and South Korea have demanded the North abandon its nuclear program first.

Kim said that the U.S. will use every possible means to make the North realize that it can't achieve the security and prosperity it seeks as long as it sticks to nuclear weapons. He rejected criticism that the U.S. is not doing enough to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program.

"Holding North Korea responsible for its own choices does not mean just waiting and hoping the regime will one day come to its senses," Kim said. "We are committed to using the full range of tools -- deterrence, diplomacy, and pressure -- to make clear that North Korea will not achieve security or prosperity while it pursues nuclear weapons, abuses its own people, and flouts its longstanding obligations and commitments."

Kim said the U.S. has also sustained pressure on the North to "increase the costs" of its destructive policy choices. He cited an executive order that Obama issued in January to impose fresh sanctions on Pyongyang in the wake of the regime's hacking of Sony Pictures.

"Our financial sanctions are always more effective when supported by our partners, and so we've also focused on strengthening multilateral sanctions against North Korea," he said.

"We will continue to press for robust implementation of U.N. sanctions and enhanced vigilance against the DPRK's proliferation activities worldwide."

The envoy said that the U.S. is maintaining close coordination with members of the six-party talks to ensure that "wherever Pyongyang turns, it hears a strong, unwavering message that it must live up to its international obligations, and that the path to a brighter future begins with credible negotiations and concrete denuclearization steps."

Kim also said the U.S. is interested in holding a five-party meeting, excluding North Korea.

"It's something that we've been very interested in pursuing. I think it would make a lot of sense for us to have a five-party gathering in which all five of us at one time share notes and try to come up with a common strategy," he said.

"I do think it would be useful for us try to organize a five-party gathering to coordinate our efforts. Some of the parties have been cautious about the signal that a five-party gathering would send. But I believe that it would be quite useful," he said, adding that China and Russia have been cautious.

Amb. Robert King, special envoy for human rights in the North, said during the hearing that radio broadcasts into the North are one of the most effective tools in spreading outside information to the totalitarian nation.

Radio broadcasts are "important in breaking down the information barriers that the DPRK government has imposed on its people," he said, adding, "Because of government policies, radio remains the most important means to get information into the DPRK."

Meanwhile, Kim told reporters after the hearing that there is no sign of North Korea preparing a nuclear test.

Earlier in the day, South Korea's main intelligence agency reported to lawmakers that the North is preparing for its fourth nuclear test, although a test is not imminent.

"I have seen nothing to indicate that a test is being planned.

We are monitoring closely, as I said," he said.

"North Korea should not be conducting any nuclear test for in fact they should not be conducting any nuclear activity. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions prohibit them from carrying out nuclear activities. I certainly hope that they are not planning to conduct another nuclear test," he said. (Yonhap)