It also vowed to build its "war deterrence," accusing the United States of stepping up preparations for an attack, and said it had fulfilled the disarmament deal by providing information to the US on its nuclear programmes in November.

"We have been compelled to slow the disablement process" because the US and other countries in the six-nation deal had been slow to meet their obligations, said Minju Chosun, the mouthpiece for the communist government.

In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said it had "worked out a report on the nuclear declaration in November last year and notified the US side of its contents."

But the United States said it was "still waiting" for North Korea's full account of its nuclear programmes.

North Korea agreed last February to give up its nuclear weapons programmes in return for one million tonnes of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid, diplomatic benefits and security guarantees.

Pyongyang should have completed the disablement of its nuclear plants, and handed over a complete declaration of all its nuclear programmes and material, by December 31 but missed the deadline.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have said they were disappointed the deadline was missed, and the White House has said it is "skeptical" the North would ever give a full accounting of its nuclear programmes.

The North Korean foreign ministry statement said much of the promised fuel oil and other equipment had not been delivered and that it would "adjust the tempo" of its disablement work accordingly.

The comments were North Korea's first since the December 31 deadline to disable its atomic plants and declare all its nuclear programmes in exchange for aid and other benefits passed.

The six-nation deal involves the two Koreas, the US, Japan, China and Russia, and the North's comments came as the US State Department said chief envoy Christopher Hill would arrive Monday in Tokyo to begin an Asian tour.

The tour, which will also take him to Seoul, Beijing and Moscow, is focused on "how to move the six-party process forward," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

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

Washington says it has evidence 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.

In a separate commentary, Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the North's ruling Korean Workers' Party, accused the US of intensifying preparations for an attack.

"The DPRK (North Korean) people, seeing through to the criminal nature of US imperialists, has already been building up their defence capability," it said.

"To cope with the mounting US nuclear war manoeuvres, the DPRK will further strengthen its own war deterrence."

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