New Zealand's prime minister has been warned that diplomatic cables out of the US embassy in Wellington might cause some embarrassment.
The documents are part of a worldwide release on Monday of 250,000 American confidential diplomatic cables by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
Leaked cables by US diplomats posted on websites overseas contain blunt appraisals of their host governments and unflattering pen portraits of world leaders.
Prime Minister John Key says he has been given a broad idea of what is in the cables relating to New Zealand and one or two might contain embarrassing comments.
"My understanding is broadly, there's 1490 cables that have been sent by the US embassy in Wellington to Washington.
"We don't know all of the details in them, but there's bound to be one or two comments in there that might lead to embarrassment at the most - but nothing more serious than that."
He would not give details on Monday, saying he was waiting to see whether WikiLeaks actually posted the cables or not.
All that has appeared so far are references to topics which diplomatic cables from Wellington address, including cables related to North Korea and Iran in February this year.
Labour Party leader Phil Goff says the language in the cables will be much more brutal than the language contained in the US State Department's public statements.
US spies likely to know Clark's credit card details
It appears likely that American intelligence officials know credit card details of former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, the documents released by WikiLeaks indicate.
The latest diplomatic cables reveal US diplomats were asked to collect detailed personal information on senior United Nations officials.
The cables date from July last year, not long after Miss Clark took up her job as head of the UN Development Programme.
American diplomats were asked to provide the US intelligence community with personal details about senior UN officials, including their credit card account numbers, frequent flyer numbers and email details.
