WASHINGTON (AP) - A leading Republican senator suggested Sunday that the Bush administration should talk directly with North Korea as concerns grow over a possible test launch of a missile that could reach the United States.
Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. should not attack the missile while it is on the ground, before it is fired, as some have urged.
``It would be advisable to bring about a much greater degree of diplomacy, and this may involve direct talks between the United States and North Korea,'' he said.
North Korea long has wanted direct meetings with the U.S. Washington, however, has refused, insisting it will only meet the North Koreas in the context of six-nation international talks aimed at ridding the communist country of its nuclear weapons program.
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