White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not offer any new information about the United States service member being held in North Korea on Tuesday, referring questions to defense officials.

Tuesday's White House press briefing followed a briefing from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the matter, and Jean-Pierre declined to engage in "hypotheticals" or "assumptions" on the topic, choosing instead to refer questions from reporters back to Austin's remarks.

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Jean-Pierre reiterated that Pentagon officials were in contact with their North Korean counterparts about the soldier, who prior to his escape to North Korea was awaiting disciplinary action for an unknown offense at a U.S. military base in South Korea. She did not say if the administration is actively working to bring the soldier home at this time.

"DOD is in the process of notifying next of kin. Until that is complete, they will not release identification of the soldier," she told reporters. "The White House, the Department of Defense, the State Department, and also the U.N. are all working together to ascertain more information and resolve the situation. I don't have more to share beyond that. We are looking into this. We're trying to get more information."

State Department spokespeople deferred questions to the Department of Defense and told reporters earlier in the day that State was not communicating with North Korea or its allies throughout the process.

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You can watch Tuesday's briefing in full below.