US rejects separate talks with North Korea

The United States on Monday rebuffed what seemed to be moves by China to get the United States to talk directly to North Korea about its nuclear program outside six-country negotiations. After Chinese officials used media outlets to urge bilateral contacts, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Pyongyang could speak directly to Washington within the context of those multilateral contacts.
"We've ... made it very clear that if there is a need for North Korea to talk with us, they have the opportunity to do that in the context of the six-party talks," he said.