Pyongyang was supposed to have completed the disablement of its nuclear plants and handed over its declaration by December 31 in return for one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid, and diplomatic benefits.

The disablement which began in November and which is financed and supervised by the US, had been expected to miss the deadline for technical reasons.

But according to a report by Japan's Kyodo News, the North has also told the United States it is reducing the shifts of workers carrying out the operation.

A Pyongyang official reportedly warned last week of a slowdown because of a delay in providing the promised energy aid.

US State Department spokesman Tom Casey confirmed Monday that North Korea had failed to deliver its declaration detailing its atomic programs by the December 31 deadline stemming from the six-nation accord reached in February.

"There has been no last-minute change," Casey told reporters. "It's unfortunate but we are going to keep on working on this."

North Korea now risks losing out on diplomatic and economic incentives promised in return for a full nuclear declaration, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

"This is an action-for-action process," he told reporters in Texas, where US President George W. Bush was to ring in 2008 on his ranch.

"In order to have action on one side, we have to have action on the other side as well," Stanzel said.

The status of North Korea's work on the declaration was unclear, but some analysts predicted it will be delayed for months.

"While the disablement is a technical issue, the declaration is a politically strategic one which requires lots of thought," Kim Sung-Han, an international politics professor at Korea University, told AFP.

"The declaration is seen as a litmus test of whether Pyongyang is really willing to be a nuclear-free state. Given the current stalemate, it must have made no strategic decision yet."

The State Department said its top envoy on the nuclear issue, Christopher Hill, was now expected to hold talks with officials from Japan, South Korea, China and Russia to chart the next steps.

Japan and South Korea also voiced regret at the missed deadline, with the Japanese foreign ministry urging the North "to provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programmes as quickly as possible."

Seoul also called on its neighbour "to faithfully declare all its nuclear programmes at an early date and complete its disabling without any delay," according to a foreign ministry statement.

One problem with the declaration is reaching agreement on how much bomb-making plutonium was produced at the Yongbyon complex in the past. The North used some of this to stage its atomic weapons test in October 2006, lending greater urgency to the six-party process.

According to Japanese media reports, the North has told the US it produced 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of plutonium -- less than the 50 kilograms estimated by Washington.

A suspected uranium enrichment programme -- the issue which in 2002 wrecked a previous disarmament deal -- is another key hurdle.

The US says it has good evidence that Pyongyang imported material which could be used for such a programme, even if it is not up and running. The North has never publicly admitted any such operation.

Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said it was ambitious to expect total denuclearisation in the coming year.

He expected Pyongyang to wait to assess the policy of incoming South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, who has promised to take a firmer line with the North.

It could even wait until after the next US administration takes office in January 2009, to ensure any deal with the Bush administration is not overturned, Pinkston told AFP.

"I hope I'm wrong but that's what I would expect," he said.

"From a strict bargaining standpoint, if I were in their shoes I would not play my last card at this point."

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