The White House on Friday rejected North Korea's demand for one-on-one talks on the communist country's nuclear weapons programme, insisting dialogue can only take place in six-nation negotiations. The United States will not engage in direct talks because North Korea violated a previous bilateral agreement under former president Bill Clinton's administration to give up its nuclear ambitions, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. Washington, however, was open to one-on-one sessions within the context of the six-party talks, which have not taken place since June. "We've also made very clear that North Korea has ample opportunity to visit directly with us in the context of the six-party talks," McClellan said. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon met with Vice President Dick Cheney at the White House Friday to discuss the standoff, and the South Korean was due to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday. North Korea on Thursday announced it had nuclear arms and would not participate in another round of multilateral talks aimed at keeping the peninsula free of atomic weapons. North Korea on Friday then demanded a direct meeting with Washington. --More 2307 Local Time 2007 GMT
