A North Korean diplomat authorizes that the United States has lately attempted to interact with the Stalinist-led people’s republic government but whispered that North Korea does not like it.

He called the contact effort from Washington a “cheap trick”. Pyongyang will not commerce Washington until the Americans halt their “hostile policies”.

The statement by Choe Son-hui, North Korea’s Deputy Secretary of State, is North Korea’s first substantive response to the Biden government’s attempts to contact the government of the isolated country.

The statement was released as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin paid a visit to US ally South Korea, the first overseas US government visit.

North Korean state media reported that the US government had attempted to contact North Korea by email and over the phone. This was also done through a third intermediary country.

Deputy Minister Choe said North Korea has previously made it clear that it will not engage in talks with the Americans as long as US military exercises continue in the region and economic sanctions against North Korea remain. “All we’ve heard from the US since the rise of the new regime is a deranged theory of ‘threat from North Korea’ and baseless rhetoric about ‘complete denuclearization,'” said Choe.

In the South Korean capital Seoul, Blinken spoke on Wednesday about “systematic and widespread crimes” by the North Korean regime against its own people. Blinken also emphasized that the United States wants North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.