N Korea 'will allow nuclear inspection if funds released'

North Korea’s top nuclear negotiator told US envoys today that his government would immediately invite UN nuclear inspectors into the country if £12.7m (€18.6m) in disputed funds were released.

Vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan met Bill Richardson, a Democratic US presidential candidate, and Anthony Principi, US President George Bush’s former veteran affairs secretary, who were visiting Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital.