North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's influential sister lambasted the United States and South Korea, state media reported on Tuesday, in a broadside aimed at coinciding with the arrival of top US officials in Seoul.

With the US and South Korea starting joint military drills near the North Korean border last week, Kim Yo Jong said she was aiming to "warn the new US administration of trying hard to spread the smell of gunpowder on our land from across the ocean."

"If it wants to sleep in peace for coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step," the KCNYA reported her as saying in a statement.

North Korea questions linger

The statement comes a day before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are due to arrive in Seoul for their first talks with South Korean counterparts. The pair will also visit Tokyo as part of their four-day trip.

The timing of Kim's comments seems designed to ensure that North Korea will be at the top of Blinken and Austin's agenda.

On Monday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the White House had made efforts to communicate with the North Korean government but that the United States' overtures had yet to yield a response.

jsi/dj (AFP, Reuters)