Targets set in the Oct. 3 agreement had not been met, except on the disablement of nuclear facilities, when the Dec. 31 deadline set in the accord expired, a spokesman of the DPRK's Foreign Ministry said, quoted by the official Korean Central News Agency.

"The unloading of spent fuel rods, scheduled to be completed in about 100 days, is underway as the last process," said the spokesman.

Regarding the nuclear declaration and alleged nuclear cooperation between the DPRK and Syria, the spokesman said the DPRK had sent the United States a report on the nuclear declaration in November and denied any links with Syria on nuclear cooperation.

When the United States raised suspicions about uranium enrichment, the DPRK allowed it, as an exception, to visit some military facilities in which imported aluminum tubes were used and offered samples as requested, he said.

The aluminum tubes "had nothing to do with uranium enrichment," the foreign ministry official added.

The DPRK had to adjust the time-frame of disabling the nuclear facilities on the principle of "action for action," he said.

Under the Oct. 3 agreement, the DPRK agreed to disable all its existing nuclear facilities and provide a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear programs by the end of 2007.