The Institute for National Security Strategy says that North Korea will attempt to receive aid from South Korea without abandoning its nuclear program.

The agency said the North will instead likely grant major concessions on the issue of North Korean defectors and South Korean prisoners of war next year.

In a 2009 assessment and 2010 outlook report released Friday, the institute said that if the improvement of ties with the U.S. hits a long stalemate, Pyongyang could accept Seoul's requests regarding defectors and POWs in order to receive economic aid and resume South Korean tours to the North's Geumgang Mountain.

The report said if U.S.-North Korea ties fail to improve, the North, desperate to revive its economy, will again turn conciliatory towards South Korea to ask for aid.

But it also forecast that if the North fails to receive South Korean aid, it can return to saber rattling and exact pressure on the South in the year's latter half.