Roll back 'hostile policy'

♦ North Korea denies role in global cyberattack

North Korea's deputy UN envoy said on Friday the United States needed to roll back its "hostile policy" toward the country before there could be talks as US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned that any military solution to the crisis would be "tragic on an unbelievable scale".

"As everybody knows, the Americans have gestured (toward) dialogue," North Korea's deputy UN ambassador, Kim In Ryong, told reporters on Friday. "But what is important is not words, but actions."

"The rolling back of the hostile policy towards DPRK is the prerequisite for solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula," he said. "Therefore, the urgent issue to be settled on Korean Peninsula is to put a definite end to the US hostile policy towards DPRK, the root cause of all problems."

Kim In-Ryong also angrily dismissed reports linking North Korea to the global cyberattack that held thousands of computers to virtual ransom.

"It is ridiculous," he told reporters, suggesting Washington and Seoul were behind the allegation.

Up to 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by the WannaCry worm, which seizes systems and demands payment in Bitcoin to return control to users.

North Korea, also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike the mainland United States, saying the program is necessary to counter US aggression.

US President Donald Trump warned in an interview with Reuters in late April that a "major, major conflict" with North Korea was possible, but said he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute over its nuclear and missile programs.

Trump later said he would be "honored" to meet the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, under the right conditions. A US State Department spokesman said the country would have to "cease all its illegal activities and aggressive behavior in the region."

"We are going to continue to work the issue," Mattis told a Pentagon news conference.

"If this goes to a military solution, it's going to be tragic on an unbelievable scale. So our effort is to work with the UN, work with China, work with Japan, work with South Korea to try to find a way out of this situation."

The remarks were one of the clearest indicators yet that President Donald Trump's administration will seek to exhaust alternatives before turning to military action to force Pyongyang's hand.