Cables revealed by the WikiLeaks website quoted US diplomats as saying that China increasingly doubts its own influence over Pyongyang and considers the "spoiled child" regime's nuclear programme to be "very troublesome."

"We hope the US side will properly handle relevant issues," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said as WikiLeaks made the latest batch of secret cables public amid heightened tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul.

"We don't want to see any disturbance to China-US relations," Hong added, after leaks showed China turned a blind eye to North Korean missile parts exports and the top Chinese leadership was behind cyberattacks on Google.

The leaked cables have left diplomats worldwide red-faced and drew the ire of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who called their release an "attack" on the US and the world.

The memos became public a week after North Korea shelled a South Korean border island, killing four people and sending tensions soaring.

Allegations from the 250,000 cables include that Iran's supreme leader has cancer and will die "within months" and that Saudi King Abdullah urged the US to attack Iran and "cut off the head of the snake" over its nuclear programme.

"Obviously this is a matter of great concern," Clinton said as she headed for an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe summit in Kazakhstan that looks increasingly like a diplomatic damage limitation exercise.

"We don't want anyone in any of the countries that could be affected by these alleged leaks to have any doubts about our intentions, and about our commitments," Clinton told reporters.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, described in the missives as "thin-skinned and authoritarian ... naked emperor", slammed their release as "the ultimate degree of irresponsibility," his government spokesman said.

The flood of leaked US diplomatic cables -- most of which date from between 2007 and February 2010 -- has revealed secret details and indiscreet asides on some of the world's most tense international issues.

The website gave the cables to journalists from five Western publications several weeks ago, and they are being released on the Internet in stages.

WikiLeaks creator Julian Assange described the mass of documentation as a "diplomatic history of the United States" covering "every major issue." The site will next year release documents targeting "a big US bank", he said.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, a long-time US critic described in the cables as "crazy", praised Assange, while Ecuador even offered the 39-year-old sanctuary.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said there was an "ongoing criminal investigation" of the leaks and vowed to pursue Assange, an Australian believed to be living in Europe, if he is found to have violated US law.

US officials had raced to contain the fallout last week by warning more than a dozen governments but refused to negotiate with WikiLeaks.

The leaks particularly highlighted the difference between Arab states' public policies and private desires, notably concerning Iran, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The documents allege that Egypt advised the US to forget about democracy in post-invasion Iraq and allow a return to dictatorship, while Kuwait's interior minister said "the best thing to do is get rid of" Kuwaitis held at Guantanamo.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Arab countries should not fall into the whistleblower's "trap" after memos suggested Gulf states wanted a US military strike on the Islamic republic.

"This is a very suspicious plot. They have planted some Western and US crimes in them to present them as credible," Mehmanparast said.

US officials have not confirmed the source of the leaks, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a former army intelligence analyst arrested after the release of a video showing air strikes that killed reporters in Iraq.

WikiLeaks argues that its first two document dumps -- nearly 500,000 US military reports from 2004 to 2009 -- shed light on abuses in Afghanistan and Iraq, and denies any individual has been harmed by its disclosures.

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