The United States is open to bilateral contacts with North Korea and urges the communist state to refrain from launching a missile and return to six-nation nuclear negotiations, Reuters quoted the U.S. envoy to the talks, Stephen Bosworth, as saying today. "Six-party talks, we believe, must be at the center ... of our efforts," Bosworth said and urged North Korea to halt its announced plan to launch a long-range rocket in coming days. "That will not change. We will continue to have bilateral contact (with the North Koreans) and we are prepared to open that channel at any point," he said in remarks at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. North Korea has said it will send a satellite into space between Saturday and Wednesday, and insists it has the right to do so as a part of a peaceful space program. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said it was now almost certain the North would fire the missile despite global protests, and if weather allowed the launch could take place as early as Saturday. South Korea and Japan say the launch is a disguised test of the long-range Taepodong-2 missile, which is designed to carry a warhead capable of reaching U.S. territory but which blew apart about 40 seconds after launch during its only test flight in July 2006.
