The United States on Wednesday ruled out direct talks with North Korea, called for by Pyongyang over its planned missile test.

A North Korean is seen between two South Korean soldiers at the truce village of Panmunjon in a file photo. North Korea wants talks with Washington over its apparent preparations for a missile test, Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday. [Reuters]

"Their desire for bilateral talks is well known, as is our position on bilateral talks," a senior U.S. administration official said during President George W. Bush's summit with European Union leaders in Vienna.

The official made clear Washington still believed that dialogue with North Korea, whose nuclear arms program has caused international alarm, should be conducted through six-party talks.

North Korea has refused to return to that forum unless the United States ends a crackdown on companies it suspects of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activity such as counterfeiting.

Asked earlier about the possibility of direct talks, U.S. ambassador Thomas Schieffer told reporters in Tokyo: "They have the opportunity to do that through the six-party talks. They don't have to take bad policies to talk to the United States."

Schieffer urged Pyongyang to return to the six-way process, involving North and South Korea, Japan, China, the United States and Russia, which has been stalled since November.

The talks are meant to coax Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons project in return for aid and security assurances.