The top US nuclear envoy voiced hope on Tuesday to keep working closely with South Korea in their push to bring about denuclearization of North Korea.

Joseph Yun made the remarks during his first official meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Hong-kyun, in Seoul after coming from a meeting with his Chinese partner Wu Dawei in Beijing on Monday.

"I look forward to working closely with you to see how much progress we can make on bringing about denuclearization of North Korea," he said at the beginning of the meeting.

This marked his second visit to South Korea since his recent appointment as Washington's top nuclear negotiator. He accompanied US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken on an Asian trip last week.

Kim, South Korea's top nuclear envoy, called the meeting with the US official "very timely" and "important" citing the growing nuclear threat from the North.

He also expressed hope that South Korea and the US will strengthen their bilateral and global coordination to make the North give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"We must, together with the international community, continue to apply sanctions and pressure on North Korea to create an environment where Kim Jong-un has no other option but to choose the denuclearization process," he said.

"I hope that this coordination will continue and further strengthen during the transition period after the US presidential election in less than 10 days," he added. (Yonhap)