In this file photograph dated Oct 5, 2018, Ri Son-gwon, then Chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification and the current foreign minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, speaks during a joint DPRK and Republic of Korea event marking the 11th anniversary of a 2007 inter-Korean summit, at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang. (KIM WON JIN / AFP)

SEOUL -The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not considering any contact with the United States, Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon said on Wednesday.

"We are not considering even the possibility of any contact with the US, let alone having it, which would get us nowhere, only taking up precious time," Ri said in a statement carried on state media KCNA.

His comments were made after the new US envoy for the DPRK said in Seoul on Monday that he looked forward to a "positive response soon" on dialogue from Pyongyang.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden's administration has conducted a review of policy and said it would seek "calibrated and practical" ways to persuade Pyongyang to denuclearize.

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On Tuesday, the sister of the DPRK leader, Kim Jong-un, said in a statement that the United States appeared to be interpreting signals from the DPRK in the "wrong way".

Kim Yo-jong, who is a senior official in the DPRK's ruling party, was responding to US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who on Sunday said he saw as an "interesting signal" a recent speech by Kim Jong-un on preparing for both confrontation and diplomacy with the United States.