Washington ? The Bush administration blamed China on Thursday for not doing enough to cajole North Korea back to nuclear talks but gave no indication it is willing to revise its own strategy, which has so far failed to roll back the North’s advancing nuclear program.

Instead, the White House called on North Korea to set a date for a new round of regional talks, even as North and South Korean officials were unable to agree Thursday on whether the negotiations would take place at all.

After months of speculation that North Korea might be preparing a nuclear test, the reclusive nation indicated last week that it would be willing to come back to the talks, and eventually disarm, if Washington treated it with respect and as an equal partner in the negotiations.

Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, who recently replaced John Bolton as the administration’s top nuclear nonproliferation official, told reporters Thursday that the Bush administration’s approach will continue and that he is hopeful the North Koreans “are going to come back” to the talks.

But he said China, a close ally of North Korea that supplies the impoverished state with oil and food, must do more to get Pyongyang back into the negotiations.

“The Chinese can exert more influence,” he said. “China has to make a decision how to influence North Korea. It has a number of tools.”