U.S. insists bilateral talks with DPRK in six-party framework

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States wants to continue talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) only in the framework of six-party talks, U.S. State Department said on Thursday.

"We've made clear to North Korea for a long time, within the six-party framework, there's plenty of room for a bilateral dialogue," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters at the daily press briefing.

"North Korea knows what it has to do. It has to come back to a six-party process, be willing to take the kinds of steps that the international community has made clear that it needs to do," said the spokesman.

"The ball is still in North Korea's court," said Crowley.

Crowley's remarks came on day after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson hosted two DPRK diplomats in his mansion for an informal meeting, which was described by Richardson as a hopeful sign for improving relations between Washington and Pyongyang.

After the meeting, Richardson told reporters that Pyongyang is prepared to have a dialogue with the United States, but that it is still resisting participating in the six-party talks.

The Obama administration claims that the bilateral dialogue with Pyongyang should be in the DPRK's denuclearization process guided by the six-party talks mechanism, which involved also China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Russia.