The United States said on Monday it expected North Korea to submit its nuclear declaration to China on June 26.

"That is the deadline, June 26th is the deadline," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"We hope that they will fulfill their obligations and then, as we've said, there is action for action. So let's take a look at the declaration as we get it and then I'll tell you what the next steps are," she said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said last week that following Pyongyang's declaration, President George W. Bush will formally inform Congress of plans to remove North Korea from a list of state sponsors of terrorism and waive penalizing the country under the US Trading with the Enemy Act.

According to a report by Japan's Kyodo news agency on Monday, North Korea is expected to submit its nuclear declaration to China on June 26.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported last week that North Korea's nuclear declaration would be handed over to China around June 26.

Sung Kim, director of the office of Korean affairs at the State Department, visited North Korea in May and North Korea handed over its nuclear documents to him in Pyongyang on May 8.

The documents are believed to be detailed technical logs from North Korea's shuttered plutonium reactor.

Under an agreement reached at the six-party talks in Beijing in February last year, North Korea agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and programs and declare all its nuclear programs and facilities by the end of 2007, in exchange for diplomatic and economic incentives.

However, North Korea missed the deadline despite reported progress in its nuclear disablement and declaration.

The United States has urged North Korea to fully declare its nuclear programs and activities.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2008)