Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Tuesday he hopes the United States and China will work together with South Korea to bring a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear standoff.

"Though North Korea continues nuclear and missile provocations, the government of the Republic of Korea believes that we have to ultimately resolve this issue peacefully while continuing to pressure and persuade the North so as to prevent it from making the wrong choice," Lee said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Knowledge Forum.

"I hope the international community, including the United States and China, will provide cooperation for this policy of the South Korean government," Lee said at the annual forum organized by South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper.

Lee said South Korea has uncertainties, including the North Korean issue, but will overcome them.

"The Republic of Korea stands at an inflection point," Lee said. "But I firmly believe that it will overcome challenges from inside and outside just as it has done so far."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have run high as the North undertook a series of provocative acts, such as long-range missile tests and last month's sixth nuclear test, with the US and the North exchanging bellicose rhetoric.

US President Donald Trump has often talked about military options against the North. (Yonhap)