The New York Times reported Thursday that the collapse of the latest round of the six-party talks has blocked U.S. President George W. Bush's final efforts to end North Korea's nuclear program.

Citing U.S. government officials, the newspaper said, "Any talks were unlikely to resume before Mr. Bush stepped down in less than six weeks, depriving him of the chance for the breakthrough that the White House had hoped to reach with the North Koreans in the sunset of his presidency."

The paper quoted Michael J. Green, a former National Security Council adviser under Bush as saying that the Bush administration had "erred" in removing North Korea from the U.S. terrorism blacklist without extracting a more concrete step on verification.