Envoy urges patience on North Korea deadline

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's failure to meet a deadline to declare its nuclear activities needs to be confronted with patience and perseverance, a senior U.S. envoy said on Monday.

North Korea said on Friday it had already accounted for its nuclear arms program as required under a multilateral disarmament deal, but the assertion was quickly rejected by the United States, which pressed Pyongyang for a declaration.

"They were prepared to give a declaration which wasn't going to be complete and correct, and we felt that it was better for them to give us a complete one even if it's going to be a late one," Washington's top envoy to nuclear talks with North Korea, Christopher Hill, told reporters.

"We understand that this is always a difficult process, one that is rarely completed on time. So I think we have to have a little sense of patience and perseverance," he added, after arriving in Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart.

The United States and several allies have said that North Korea missed a December 31 deadline to submit a full inventory of its nuclear arms programs, as promised in six-party nuclear negotiations last year.

At the talks -- which group the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- Pyongyang agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and a better international standing.

A spokesman for South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Pyongyang had not handed the list to China, which chairs the six-party talks.

"As far as we know, there was a consultation between North Korea and the United States about the nuclear declaration but we have not heard of North Korea submitting the list," said spokesman Cho Hee-young.