US President Barack Obama has for the first time admitted that the US will miss the January 2010 deadline he set for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Obama made the admission in interviews with US networks during the president's tour of Asia, the BBC reported.
He said he was "not disappointed" that the deadline had slipped, saying he "knew this was going to be hard".
Officials are trying to determine what to do with some 220 detainees still held at the US prison on Cuba.
The questions remaining over the fate of those assessed as dangerous but who for legal reasons could not be prosecuted in a US court had already prompted much speculation that the deadline would slip.
Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, but said it would probably be later in 2010.
"We had a specific deadline that was missed," he told NBC television.
Obama told Fox News: "People, I think understandably, are fearful after a lot of years where they were told that Guantanamo was critical to keep terrorists out."
Closing the facility was "also just technically hard," he added.
Obama made the admission in interviews with US networks during the president's tour of Asia, the BBC reported.
He said he was "not disappointed" that the deadline had slipped, saying he "knew this was going to be hard".
Officials are trying to determine what to do with some 220 detainees still held at the US prison on Cuba.
The questions remaining over the fate of those assessed as dangerous but who for legal reasons could not be prosecuted in a US court had already prompted much speculation that the deadline would slip.
Obama did not set a specific new deadline for closing the camp, but said it would probably be later in 2010.
"We had a specific deadline that was missed," he told NBC television.
Obama told Fox News: "People, I think understandably, are fearful after a lot of years where they were told that Guantanamo was critical to keep terrorists out."
Closing the facility was "also just technically hard," he added.
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