SEOUL: North Korea accused the new US administration of adopting “lunatic theory” Thursday, ruling out any engagement with Washington unless it changed course, as President Joe Biden’s top envoys held talks in Seoul.

The comments from Pyongyang’s first vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui came with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in South Korea on the second leg of an Asian tour to bolster a united front against the nuclear-armed North and an increasingly assertive China.

After Seoul, Blinken heads to Anchorage, Alaska for the new administration’s first talks with China’s top diplomats, with Beijing and Washington at loggerheads over issues ranging from trade to rights to territorial disputes.

The Biden administration has generally backed the tougher approach to Beijing initiated by former president Donald Trump, and is looking to shore up alliances to rein in China’s regional rise while co-operating on priorities such as climate change.