U.S. says open to bilateral talks with North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it is open to bilateral contacts with North Korea, while urging the communist state not to launch a long-range missile and return to six-nation nuclear negotiations.

"Six-party talks, we believe, must be at the center ... of our efforts," U.S. envoy to the talks, Stephen Bosworth, said.

"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.

Earlier in Strasbourg, France, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the international community would take action if North Korea went ahead with the launch to show Pyongyang that it could not act with impunity. [nSP381409]

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.

(For full coverage of the missile crisis, click [nSP469853])

Bosworth said the United States would be "working very closely with our partners to ensure that after the dust from the missiles has settled a bit (that) we get back to the longer term priority ... of the six-party (talks)."

Asked later why he referred to "missiles" in the plural, Bosworth told reporters it was a misstatement. But he added: "Last time, of course, they did launch more than one but I have no way of knowing what their intentions are."

The United States along with China, Japan, Russia and South Korea, has been trying for years to persuade the impoverished North to give up its efforts to build a nuclear arsenal in return for massive aid.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates discussed North Korea's impending launch late on Wednesday (Washington time) with the ministers of defense for South Korea and Japan, the Pentagon said.

"The secretary confirmed the importance of continuing to maintain close coordination and cooperation on this issue as well as handling the situation with the DPRK in a calm manner as it further develops," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed and David Morgan, writing by Paul Eckert, editing by Anthony Boadle)