The presidential office has dismissed reports that the United States is moving to delay the planned reduction of its troops stationed in South Korea.

Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Jong-min said in a telephone interview with Yonhap News Agency Wednesday that "nothing has yet been discussed between the two sides on the issue."

Speculation that Washington may push back its timeframe for the troop cut arose after U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice made a one-day visit to Seoul last Friday.

Kim said the issue was not discussed when Rice met with Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon nor mentioned in U.S. President George W. Bush's letter conveyed by Rice to President Roh Moo-hyun.

On Wednesday, sources in Seoul said the United States is likely to delay its initial plan of reducing 12,500 or a third of its troops stationed in South Korea by the end of next year to some unspecified time in the future.

Seoul is hoping to postpone the troop cut until 2007 or 2008 and cut the scope of reduction in line with its own efforts to beef up its military.

The sources had speculated on Wednesday that Washington's supposed delay was largely due to Bush's gratitude for Seoul's decision to keep its promise to dispatch additional troops to Iraq despite the murder of a South Korean hostage in that troubled country.