US urges China to raise pressure on N. Korea

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns also indicated that the United States would not grant North Korea the direct talks it is seeking following its test-firing of seven missiles, including some that possibly could reach the US continent. President Bush also has opposed one-on-one talks.

``We really don't see the logic of turning this into a test of wills between two countries -- the United States and North Korea," Burns said.

The diplomatic goal is to compel North Korea to return to six-nation talks aimed at ridding the reclusive communist-led nation of its nuclear weapons program, Burns said. The United States consistently has rejected direct talks with North Korea, preferring the six-party negotiations, deadlocked since November.

US officials have previously said they would only have direct discussions with North Korea in the context of the six-party talks.

``The problem here is not the lack of discussion between the United States and North Korea," Burns said yesterday. ``We're perfectly willing to sit down with them in that six-party environment."

Getting support from China, North Korea's main ally and trading partner, is seen as crucial. Burns, joined by members of Congress, urged Beijing to use its ``influence and exert some pressure on the North Korean regime" to return to the talks that involve the Koreas, the United States, China, Russia, and Japan.

These efforts, he said, are aimed to ``convince the North Koreans that they're isolated, that they have no support in the world, and they've got to come back to this six-party framework."

Chris Hill, the top US envoy to the nuclear negotiations, has been in Asia, talking to his diplomatic counterparts; Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Bush have been calling world leaders in the region; at the United Nations, Japan has proposed a Security Council resolution calling for penalties against North Korea.

The United States , Britain, and France support the idea, but the other two veto-empowered members of the council, China and Russia, are opposed. ``We think we've got the votes to pass that," Burns said of the resolution.

Burns expressed confidence that a united message could be sent. China and Russia, he said, ``understand that, as two members of the six-party framework, they have a responsibility to use their influence with North Korea."