North Korea: No nuclear talks until US stops ‘hostile policies’

First vice minister of Foreign Affairs for North Korea, Choe Son Hui, said on Thursday that until the U.S. stops its “hostile policies,” North Korea will not discuss denuclearization.

“We have already declared our stand that no DPRK-U.S. contact and dialogue of any kind can be possible unless the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy towards the DPRK,” Hui said in a statement published by state-run Korean Central News Agency, CNBC reported.

The Biden administration has attempted to contact the North Korean official, but she said the administration’s messages have been ignored.

The statement from North Korea comes after Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a meeting with South Korean officials on Thursday. The meeting resulted in a joint statement from the countries that said addressing North Korea’s nuclear programs was “a priority for the alliance.”

Blinken also pressured China after the meeting to use its influence to push North Korea towards denuclearization.

“We take this opportunity to warn the new U.S. administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our land,” Kim Yo Jong, younger sister to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said earlier this week. “If it wants to sleep in peace for [the] coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step.”

The U.S. is concerned that North Korea will begin testing new intercontinental missiles in the future.