North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui / Korea Times file

North Korea said Thursday that it will continue to ignore any contact from the United States unless Washington withdraws its hostile policies toward Pyongyang.

North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui also confirmed in a statement that the U.S. reached out to Pyongyang even the day before its combined exercises with South Korea from a "third country."

The statement came as the top U.S. diplomat and the defense chief are in Seoul for talks with their South Korean counterparts to coordinate a joint approach toward North Korea and discuss other alliance issues.

"We have already made our point clear that no North Korea-U.S. contact or talks will be held unless the U.S. withdraws hostile policies to us and that we will continue to ignore its attempts to reach out to us," Choe said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"In order to hold any talks, we must set a mood where the two sides can sit down face-to-face under equitable conditions," she added.