North Korea has warned the US against "causing a stink" if it wants peace as President Joe Biden's aides claim that Kim Jong-un is ignoring him.
The despot leader, who held three summit meetings with Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, has not responded to messages from the US since last month.
But today Kim's sister, Kim Yo-jong, ominously warned the new President against "causing a stink" if he wants peace, while criticising ongoing military drills in South Korea.
She said in a statement released by news agency KCNA: "We take this opportunity to warn the new US administration trying hard to give off powder smell in our land, if it wants to sleep in peace for (the) coming four years, it had better refrain from causing a stink at its first step."
It comes the day before America's top diplomat and defence chief are due to arrive in Seoul for their first talks with South Korean officials.
Earlier White House officials said messages sent to the North Korean leaders had gone unanswered.
Biden has described Kim as a "thug" and said relations between the two countries would be reviewed after Trump failed to bring the hermit state in line.
Kim previously ended talks with Trump saying he would not engage further unless the United States drops its hostile policies.
North Korea has been incensed after South Korean and American troops began a joint springtime military drill.
"War drills and hostility can never go with dialogue and cooperation," said Kim Yo Jong, who has become a vocal critic of Seoul.
She mocked South Korea for "resorting to shrunken war games, now that they find themselves in the quagmire of political, economic and epidemic crisis."
Earlier today White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters: "We have reached out."
She added: "Diplomacy is always our goal."
