US Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, distanced himself from the Bush administration when he suggested the escalating standoff and other issues could be best resolved through direct dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

The administration has favored the stalled six-party talks as a venue for contacts with North Korea, which is seen by the United States as a top weapons proliferator and which Bush has said belongs to an "axis of evil."

Some independent foreign policy experts have suggested conducting a preventive strike against a North Korean launch pad, where preparation for a test of a long-range Taepodong-2 missile are said to be under way.

But Lugar said he believed "it would not be advisable" to use military force to take out the missile believed to be capable of reaching US soil.

"It would be advisable to bring out about a much greater intensification of diplomacy, and this may involve direct talks between the United States and the North Koreans," he said, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation" television show.

The talks were designed to address Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions as well as other issues stalled last November when the North refused to come back to the negotiating table until the US lifted financial sanctions.

The negotiations involve the two Koreas, Japan, Russia, the United States and China. However, Lugar indicated a new and different setting might be necessary to address the threat stemming from the North Korean missile program.

"I appreciate the value of the six-power talks," he said. "But nevertheless, with regard to a missile that might have range to the United States, that becomes a very specific United States-North Korean issue, and perhaps Japanese-North Korean issue."

He said he believed the United States was moving toward formulating "at least an agenda to talk to North Korea about" it and should proceed in this direction.

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