WASHINGTON, Jan 9: The United States said on Saturday it has not set a deadline resumption of six-country talks on North Korea's nuclear programme despite a seven month deadlock that has persuaded some officials negotiations are failing.

Senior US officials have told Reuters they expect President George W. Bush to reappraise his approach in his second term if Pyongyang continues to resist another round of talks, as it announced on Saturday that it would do.

US options under consideration include bringing the issue before the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions, and holding multilateral talks without the North.

A Japanese newspaper, the Sankei Shimbun, reported on Thursday that Washington was setting a deadline of early February for a reply from North Korea on whether it would return to six-party talks on its nuclear program.

If Pyongyang did not reply positively by the time of Bush's State of the Union address - expected in the next month - the United States would prepare to bring the matter to the UN Security Council, the newspaper said, quoting a diplomatic source. But a spokeswoman for the State Department, Darla Jordan, said: "There's been no such decision" to set a deadline. She said Washington remained committed to a diplomatic solution and the six-party process is "the best way to resolve our differences."

Jordan declined to answer further questions, such as whether a deadline was under consideration. But another official predicted the North could delay a return to negotiations - which last convened in June - for only two or three months more.

"I think realistically that the six-party process is on its last legs and if the North continues to refuse to come back to the table, the US will have to consider other options," he said, on condition of anonymity.

Officials acknowledge that short of some event like a nuclear weapons test Washington is unlikely to persuade the Security Council to impose international sanctions on the North, on top of long-standing comprehensive US sanctions.

But threatening to raise the nuclear issue with the council could encourage China, which has been hosting the six-party talks, to increase pressure on Pyongyang, US officials say.

Some US officials believe Beijing, the North's closest ally, has not exerted enough pressure on Pyongyang. But China is frustrated by the North's delaying tactics and some Beijing officials want to "tighten the screws a little bit," maybe by temporarily halting crucial fuel supplies to the impoverished North, one US official said.

In a Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday, North Korea said it would not return to six-party nuclear talks until Bush spelled out policies for his second term. This comes as no surprise to US officials who drew this conclusion last month after conversations with North Korean and other Asian officials. -Reuters