N. Korea may miss year-end nuke deadline

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- South Korean officials say North Korea might miss a year-end deadline for disclosing its nuclear programs due to U.S. rejection of a North Korean draft list.

The officials said Wednesday the United States has not accepted the draft, saying it does not address its uranium-based weapons program, Yonhap news agency reported.

The issue relates to a U.S. charge in 2002 that North Korea was running a clandestine nuclear weapons program using highly enriched uranium. North Korea has refuted the charge.

The matter comes up at a time when South Korean officials are eager to get the declaration part out of the way before the February start of President-elect Lee Myung-bak's administration, which may be less generous to the North, the report said.

The deadline requires North Korea to disable its key Yongbyon nuclear facilities and make a public disclosure of its entire nuclear program by the end of the year, under an agreement reached with South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia.

U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill has said the declaration should be as complete and correct as possible, the report said.