U.S., European leaders meet to discuss North Korean missile test

U.S., European leaders meet to discuss North Korean missile test

Bush is conferring with EU leaders for more than four hours of talks Wednesday in the capital of Austria, which holds the 25-nation EU's rotating presidency.

Without offering specifics, Washington has been threatening consequences if Pyongyang goes ahead with the launch, which would be its first since test-firing an earlier version over northern Japan in 1998. Bush's aides declined again Tuesday to tip their hand, even as the administration labored to rally other countries to threaten North Korea with further isolation, the AP reports.

North Korea said Wednesday that it wants direct talks with the United States, which has insisted it will only speak to the North at six-nation nuclear talks. The North has refused to return to those talks since November.