North Korea said on Thursday it would ignore an offer from the United States for talks unless Washington reverses its hostile policy.

Earlier this week, the White House offered an olive branch to Pyongyang, saying it had made efforts to communicate with the North Korean government, but that so far these overtures had fallen on deaf ears.

And a statement from North Korea's Choe Son Hui, the first foreign minister, suggested that wasn't likely to change any time soon.

There could be no contact nor dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang "unless the US rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK", Choe said in a statement carried Thursday by the official Korean Central News Agency, referring to the North by its official name.

'Lunatic theory'

"What has been heard from the US since the emergence of the new regime is only a lunatic theory of 'threat from North Korea' and groundless rhetoric about 'complete denuclearization,'" Choe said, describing the offer for talks as a "time-delaying trick."

"Therefore, we will disregard such an attempt from the US in the future, too," she added.

Choe's comments came as US and South Korean foreign and defense chiefs met in Seoul for talks over North Korea's nuclear program.

After the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would complete its North Korea policy review in the coming weeks, and that both pressure and diplomatic options are on the table.

Blinken also said China has a key role to play in any "denuclearization" efforts regarding North Korea.

US-South Korea drills deemed a threat

Earlier this week, Kim Yo Jong — the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — criticized recent US-South Korean military exercises that her government views as threatening.

And Choe also took issue with this month's drills, saying that the United States "openly started aggression-minded joint military exercises targeting us."

jsi/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)