US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that the US had no plans to attack North Korea but reiterated that Pyongyang give up its nuclear programme, Xinhua reported. "We have absolutely no desire to attack North Korea. We have no reason to want to do so," Rice said in an interview to South Korean Internet news outlets. "We understand that North Korea is a sovereign state ... North Korea does not need to worry the US intends to attack it," she said. She urged Pyongyang to make a "strategic choice" to give up its nuclear programme. The US could hold direct talks with North Korea on the nuclear issue within the framework of the six-party nuclear talks, she said at a joint press conference with her South Korean counterpart Ban Ki-moon. The US official made clear that there would be no direct US-North Korea talks outside the six-party talks because the nuclear issue was a regional one.