June 2 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea should use the six-nation forum for talks on its nuclear program, the White House said, rejecting an invitation by North Korea for U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill to visit Pyongyang.

``The United States is not going to engage in bilateral negotiations with the government of North Korea,'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said in Washington yesterday. ``We're going to continue to do it through the appropriate forum.''

North Korea yesterday said Hill should come to Pyongyang to discuss ways to complete last September's agreement reached at the six-nation talks on ending its nuclear weapons program.

The U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea in September reached an in-principle agreement for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program in return for security guarantees and aid. Negotiators also called for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Further talks ended in Beijing without an agreement in November and Hill has said he is prepared to visit Pyongyang.

``The best way to move forward on implementing that September agreement is through the six-party talks,'' Tom Casey, acting U.S. State Department spokesman, said yesterday in Washington, according to a transcript. ``There's benefits for all parties in the implementation of that joint statement, but it can't move forward unless we can all get together at the table again and start talking about the ways to do that.''

U.S. Sanctions

North Korea is refusing to return to the talks until the U.S. removes sanctions it imposed because of alleged money laundering and counterfeiting by North Korean companies.

The U.S. won't lift sanctions against North Korea to coax it back to the talks, Hill said during a visit to Beijing May 25. The sanctions aren't related to issues involved in the six-nation negotiations, Casey said.

``If the United States has made a political decision to truly carry out the joint declaration, (we) again invite the head U.S. delegate in the six-party talks to visit Pyongyang and directly explain (it) to us,'' an unidentified spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry said yesterday in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea's Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun is currently in Beijing for a week-long visit that may include the nuclear talks. He will meet China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and other leaders, China's Foreign Ministry said last week.

To contact the reporter for this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 1, 2006 20:22 EDT