SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea failed to meet a year-end deadline to declare all its nuclear programs under an aid-for-disarmament deal, prompting disappointed reactions Monday from South Korea, the United States and Japan.
The three countries, along with China and Russia, have been pushing North Korea to abandon its nuclear programs in a series of negotiations that began in 2003 and finally gained momentum in 2007.
Washington and Seoul have said they believe the overall disarmament process, though falling behind schedule, is still on track.
China and Russia were silent on the issue. North Korean state media made no mention of the missed deadline but the North renewed its call for Washington to scrap unfriendly policies toward it.
"The source of war should be removed and lasting peace be ensured,'' the North said in the message carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
"An end should be put to the U.S. policy hostile towards (North Korea).''
The North also said the armistice signed at the close of the 1950-53 Korean War should be replaced by a peace treaty. The lack of a formal treaty ending the conflict means the Korean peninsula still remains technically at war.
It said the North would "make earnest efforts for stability on the Korean peninsula and peace in the world'' and the country is ready to develop "relations of friendship and co-operation with all the countries that are friendly toward it.''
The message, published in the form of a joint editorial by three major North Korean newspapers, also called for strengthening the country's military force. But it stopped short of mentioning its "nuclear deterrent,'' a term Pyongyang uses to refer to nuclear weapons.
Pyongyang promised in February to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for energy aid and political concessions. In October, it promised to disable its nuclear facilities and declare its programs by the end of the year in return for one million tonnes of oil from South Korea, the United States, China and Russia.
South Korean news media have reported Pyongyang has so far received about 135,000 tonnes of oil and the North began disabling the reactor last month with U.S. experts watching.
The United States expressed disappointment at the delay in the promised declaration.
"There has been no last-inute change. It is unfortunate but we're going to keep on working on this,'' Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department said Monday.
"We're still committed to getting a declaration and we want that declaration to be full and complete.''
"The declaration is critical,'' Casey said.
"This can't be a situation where they pretend to give us a full declaration and we pretend to believe them. This has to be full and complete and that's why, I think, this is taking extra time.''
In Tokyo, the Japanese Foreign Ministry called the lack of a declaration "unfortunate'' and said it should be released "at the earliest possible date.''
South Korea's Foreign Ministry said: "Our government urges North Korea to faithfully declare all nuclear programs at an early date and complete disablement steps without delay.''
The ministry said it was "regrettable'' the North failed to provide the promised list.
South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said last week the disclosure announcement "may go past the target date.''
The reasons for the delay in declaring the programs appear related to the country's suspected uranium-enrichment program and differences with Washington over how much plutonium it has produced.
Song, South Korea's top diplomat, said last week more consultation is required on the uranium program, while a Japanese newspaper reported Pyongyang and Washington disagree on the plutonium issue.
The Tokyo Shimbun quoted unnamed U.S. and North Korean officials last week saying the North has told the United States it has produced about 30 kilograms of the nuclear material, considerably less than U.S. estimates of more than 50 kilograms.
South Korean analysts, however, pointed to another issue, saying North Korea appears to be feel the United States is dragging its feet on a pledge to remove it from a list of terror-sponsoring states.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, said North Korea's recent behaviour suggests there may be a lull in the denuclearization process for a few months.
"Instead of stressing the North's declaration, the U.S. should show some sincerity over the terrorism list,'' Yang said.
In early December, South Korea's Song said the United States was making preparations to remove Pyongyang from the list if Pyongyang's nuclear declaration was acceptable.
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University, said the delay shows again North Korea will move forward only when it is given promised aid and other concessions.
He said, however, the denuclearization process "won't be undermined'' and the delay "cannot be seen as a collapse of the agreement.''
Diplomats had said for weeks the North would likely miss the year-end deadline for disablement because a key technical step -- removing fuel rods from the reactor -- could take several months.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Monday the United States actually slowed down part of the disablement process of a key nuclear reactor to make sure it was done in a safe, secure way.
"This is not something that we blame the North Koreans for,'' Stanzel said.
