By Arshad Mohammed and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - The United States hopes North Korea will produce an overdue declaration of its nuclear programs "in the near future," said a U.S. official on Friday who held out the possibility it could come next week.

"We are looking for it in the near future," said the official who spoke on condition he not be named because of the sensitivity of talks with the secretive, communist state.

In September 2005, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear programs and nuclear weapons in exchange for economic and diplomatic incentives under an accord negotiated among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Under a later accord, North Korea promised to produce a "complete and correct" declaration of its nuclear programs and to disable nuclear facilities at Yongbyon by the end of 2007.

During this "second phase" of the agreement, the United States has made clear it would drop North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and cease to apply sanctions under its Trading with the Enemy Act.

The U.S. official told reporters the likely occasion for North Korea to hand over the declaration would be at a meeting of the lead negotiators in the six-party talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she expected the declaration "soon," her strongest comment to date on the matter.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill, the top U.S. negotiator with North Korea, arrived in Beijing on Friday and was to stay several days. He is then expected to join Rice in Japan at a June 26-27 Group of Eight foreign ministers summit.

Asked if Hill was staying in Beijing in case there was a six-party "heads of delegation" meeting, the U.S. official said: "That is a possibility."

CUTTING CORNERS?

"You don't know until you actually have something (in hand) ... but one would expect that a head of delegation meeting, whenever that would be, would be the venue for their handing over something," he said.

Critics of the deal believe the Bush administration has softened its demand for a "complete and correct" declaration.

Under a face-saving compromise, the declaration is expected to be split in two parts: North Korea's detailed disclosure of its plutonium program and its "acknowledgment" of U.S. concerns over its suspected uranium enrichment and proliferation activities.

Washington has accused Pyongyang of pursuing a uranium enrichment program, which could provide it with a second way to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons in addition to the plutonium-based program used in its 2006 nuclear test.

The United States has also accused North Korea of helping Syria with a suspected nuclear reactor project that Israel destroyed in a September air strike.

"We appear ready to accept considerably less than the original agreement," said Michael Green, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Bush administration National Security Council official.

"It appears that there have clearly been some corners cut. Acknowledging U.S. concerns about the (uranium enrichment) program, or proliferation, is not a declaration," he added.

Bruce Klingner, a former CIA analyst and Korea expert now at the Heritage Foundation think tank, said the administration appeared upbeat about the declaration and welcomed movement on ending its plutonium program.

"Any progress on getting North Korea working towards plutonium denuclearization is all to the good," he said, but he added Pyongyang should not be allowed to "skate by" on giving information about any uranium and proliferation programs.

It remains unclear whether North Korea will hand over its plutonium and any nuclear weapons, issues that will be addressed in the third and final phase of the six-party deal. (Editing by Chris Baltimore)

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