Density of smooth maps in Wk, p(M, N) for a close to critical domain dimension

Assuming m − 1 < kp < m, we prove that the space C ^∞(M, N) of smooth mappings between compact Riemannian manifolds M, N (m = dim M) is dense in the Sobolev space W ^k,p (M, N) if and only if π _m−1(N) = {0}. If π _m−1(N) ≠ {0}, then every mapping in W ^k,p (M, N) can still be approximated by mappings M → N which are smooth except in finitely many points.