China says reports it helped cut off North Korea's Internet 'irresponsible'

BEIJING (Reuters) - Reports that China was involved in cutting off North Korea's Internet are "irresponsible", China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily news briefing. China called on the United States and North Korea to talk to each other about the hacking attack on Sony Pictures, she said.

"We have noted recent U.S. remarks and comments from North Korea," Hua said. "We believe that the United States and North Korea should communicate about this (issue)."

The United States has blamed Pyongyang for the hacking attack on Sony. The United States has also asked China to identify any North Korea hackers operating in China and, if found, send them back to North Korea.

North Korea experienced a complete Internet outage for hours before links were restored on Tuesday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said. The country's sole Internet link to the outside world is through China.

Several U.S. officials close to the investigations of the attack on Sony Pictures said the U.S. government was not involved in any cyber action against Pyongyang.

(Reporting By Ben Blanchard, Writing by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)