The U.S. will maintain sanctions against North Korea until the regime “alters its fundamental approach,” a State Department spokesman said Wednesday, hours after the DPRK fired two cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea.

“We will continue to maintain those sanctions until and unless the underlying conduct, the underlying activity changes and North Korea alters its fundamental approach,” spokesman Ned Price said at a press briefing. 

Price declined to comment specifically on Pyongyang’s latest missile launches, which came ahead of next week’s large-scale military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea.

“It’s always difficult, especially from the podium, to