US rules out direct talks with North Korea

VIENNA (Reuters) – The United States on Wednesday ruled out
direct talks with North Korea, called for by Pyongyang over its
planned missile test.

“Their desire for bilateral talks is well known, as is our
position on bilateral talks,” a senior U.S. administration
official said during President George W. Bush’s summit with
European Union leaders in Vienna.

The official made clear Washington still believed that
dialogue with North Korea, whose nuclear arms program has
caused international alarm, should be conducted through
six-party talks.

North Korea has refused to return to that forum unless the
United States ends a crackdown on companies it suspects of
aiding Pyongyang in illicit activity such as counterfeiting.

Asked earlier about the possibility of direct talks, U.S.
ambassador Thomas Schieffer told reporters in Tokyo: “They have
the opportunity to do that through the six-party talks. They
don’t have to take bad policies to talk to the United States.”

Schieffer urged Pyongyang to return to the six-way process,
involving North and South Korea, Japan, China, the United
States and Russia, which has been stalled since November.

The talks are meant to coax Pyongyang to abandon its
nuclear weapons project in return for aid and security
assurances.

(Reporting by Toby Zakaria in Vienna, writing by Mark
Heinrich, editing by Timothy Heritage))