North Korea 'wanting aid'

North Korea's intransigence over verification of its nuclear programme was likely to be aimed at extracting more aid from the countries seeking to disarm the Stalinist state, South Korea's Foreign Minister Yu Myung Hwan said.

The comments came after North Korea vowed not to allow outside inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.

North Korea has always "created a small crisis before resolving a certain issue, and received something in the process of resolving it", Yu said.