HONG KONG — The six-party talks hosted by China on North Korea's nuclear-weapons program have reached a critical stage, and signs are that while the disabling of the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon is going well, the overall denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula may be in jeopardy.

As a result, North Korea may not meet the Dec. 31 deadline to make a full declaration of its nuclear programs.

The problem is that the United States insists that Pyongyang address allegations that it had a covert program to produce nuclear weapons by using highly enriched uranium (HEU).