The U.S. State Department said diplomacy with North Korea is the “only durable way” toward denuclearization on Wednesday, while defending new Treasury Department sanctions against eight North Korea-linked persons and entities.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that just because the U.S. is “enacting measures that hold individuals and entities to account, that doesn’t mean that our belief in the importance and the value of diplomacy and dialogue is diminished.”

“And in fact, what we’ve seen from the DPRK in recent days only underscores our belief that if we are going to make progress, that we will need to engage