North Korea on Monday shot down a new overture from President Donald Trump to restart diplomatic talks despite his decision to cancel military exercises with South Korea.

"The U.S. only seeks to earn time, pretending it has made progress in settling the issue of the Korean peninsula," North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement Monday morning. "We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us."

The ministry said it was responding to a tweet from Trump on Sunday in which the president indicated an openness to another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Two previous high-profile summits between the two leaders ended with no major accomplishments.

The statement appears in response to Trump's Twitter appeal on Sunday to the reclusive leader, whom Trump calls "Mr. Chairman," that he should "act quickly, get the deal done. See you soon!" The tweet, a response to a news article in which Kim described Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a "rabid dog," included an assertion that Trump is "the only one who can get you to where you have to be."

Life Inside a Dictatorship View All 20 Images

The exchange comes at a time of intense pressure for the two countries following failed talks in Stockholm in October. Both sides have indicated they may restart negotiations before the end of the year, when a deadline Kim set in April for some sort of satisfactory agreement expires.

Analysts fear the failure to reach an agreement before 2020 will prompt North Korea to restart dangerous and provocative nuclear weapons and ballistic missile tests. The latest deadlock – following criticisms that the Trump administration does not have a coherent strategy to address North Korea's concerns – indicates the president is running out of ways to appeal to the notoriously unpredictable autocracy.

Monday's exchange came hours after Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed that the U.S. would cancel upcoming military exercises with South Korea. The training operations serve as a critical element of the two countries' alliance and their preparations for potential military conflict with the North, but they have become a central tenet of Pyongyang's complaints and a barrier to negotiations.

"I see this as a good-faith effort by the United States and the Republic of Korea to enable peace, to shape ... to facilitate a political agreement – a deal, if you will – that leads to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Esper told reporters traveling with him in Thailand on his ongoing trip to East Asia.

Other U.S. allies were quick to decry the decision. Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono told Esper on Sunday that "no one should be optimistic about" changing Pyongyang's behavior, according to The Associated Press. North Korea has targeted Japanese interests in much of its international provocations, including recent short- and medium-range missile tests.

The decision to cancel the exercises represents an abrupt about-face for the Defense Department, which earlier this month stressed the importance of maintaining them.

"We have always and will continue to conduct exercises, including combined air exercises, in order to maintain our readiness, enhance the U.S. and [South Korea's] interoperability, while allowing the diplomats the space they need to have open dialogue with North Korea," Army Lt. Col. David Eastburn told U.S. News on Nov. 6.