UPDATE 4-US says still waiting for N.Korean nuclear inventory

(Recasts with U.S. reaction)

By Yoo Choonsik and Jon Herskovitz

SEOUL, Jan 4 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday it had already accounted for its nuclear arms program as required under an international disarmament deal -- an assertion quickly rejected by the United States, which urged Pyongyang to produce a declaration soon.

The United States and several allies said this week that North Korea had not met a Dec. 31 deadline to provide a full inventory of its nuclear arms programs, as it was obliged to by the deal it struck with regional powers earlier in the year.

Breaking days of silence on the missed deadline, the North's KCNA news agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying: "We have already drawn up a nuclear report in November and have notified the United States of it."

In Washington, the White House and State Department said the United States and other countries in the six-party nuclear negotiations were in fact still waiting for the declaration.

"Unfortunately, we have not yet received a complete and correct declaration and we urge North Korea to deliver one soon so that we can all get the benefits offered in the six-party process," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said none of the other five countries in the six-party talks -- China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- had seen the final declaration that the North was obliged to deliver.

"They've not yet provided what they have said is their final declaration to the chair of the six-party talks, the Chinese, and we're still waiting for that," he told reporters, adding that Washington remained committed to the nuclear deal.