North Korea showed no signs of meeting its deadline yesterday for declaring all of its nuclear programmes, a key component of its agreement to disarm in exchange for economic aid.

The United States expressed disappointment and urged the North to meet its commitments. But there was no indication that North Korea would immediately face any sanction over the delay suggesting countries involved in negotiating the agreement were reluctant to raise tensions after a year of progress in the longstanding dispute.

The communist country promised in October to disable its main nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang, and give a full accounting of its nuclear programmes by Dec. 31 in return for energy aid and political concessions.

The North shut down the pluto-nium-producing facility in July and disablement work is under way in cooperation with US experts.