ANKARA

North Korea has refused to accept US President Donald Trump's letter to its leader Kim Jong-un, which aimed to resume long-stalled bilateral talks, a report said on Wednesday.

Citing an "informed high-level" source, NK News, a US-based website that provides news and analysis on North Korea, said Pyongyang refused to accept the letter aimed at resuming bilateral talks that have been stalled for more than five years.

Washington attempted to deliver the letter multiple times through North Korean diplomats stationed at the UN headquarters in New York, but they "bluntly" refused, the outlet said, adding that the delivery timing remains unclear.

With no official diplomatic relations, the US and North Korea technically remain in a state of war, as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Trump in 2019 became the first sitting US president to set foot on North Korean territory when, as part of a series of negotiations with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, he met with Kim in the infamous demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea.

North Korea has gone on to carry out a series of missile and nuclear tests in the years since, including what it says was the first successful launch of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in 2023.

In January, just four days after he took office, Trump said he would reach out to Kim.