Seoul - South Korea and Japan said Friday that they want to end North Korea's pattern of nuclear concessions followed by backtracking and threats by resolving the nuclear dispute in one fell swoop. Both countries want a package deal that would denuclearize North Korea in one step, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said after meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Seoul.
"We agreed on the need for a fundamental and comprehensive solution to the North Korean nuclear issue that will not lead to the negotiation tactics of the past, and we agreed to work closely together on a way to resolve the issue in a single step," Lee said at a joint press conference after the summit.
South Korea and Japan are involved in six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programme. The United States, China, Russia and North Korea also participate in the talks, which have been stalled since late last year.
Lee proposed the one-step solution last month as a way to end North Korea's tactic of balking at completing each incremental step of its denuclearization and seeking incentives for each one.
Hatoyama called Lee's proposed a "grand bargain" and "completely correct" while adding that there must be "a complete and comprehensive solution," not only to North Korea's nuclear weapons programme but also for its ballistic missile programme.
Missiles developed by North Korea could hit both Japanese and South Korean territory.
"Unless North Korea shows willingness to give them up, we must not provide economic assistance," Hatoyama said of the impoverished, aid-dependent country.
Lee proposed his grand bargain in September, offering economic aid and security guarantees if North Korea agrees to complete denuclearization in a single step. The United States has proposed a similar package of incentives for the Stalinist country.
Lee and Hatoyama's summit came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao that his country was willing to return to six-party talks if there was progress on bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea.
Lee and Hatoyama arrived in Beijing later Friday for a summit Saturday with Wen to discuss, among other things, how to proceed in the nuclear dispute with Pyongyang.
China's foreign ministry quoted Wu Dawei, its chief envoy to the six-party talks, as saying Wen and Kim Jong Il had "reached important agreement on promoting denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
"This is highly significant for the resumption of the six-party talks and signals that an important opportunity has emerged for the talks to come out of difficulties thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned," Wu said.
The six-nation talks have produced agreements in which Pyongyang has promised to dismantle its nuclear programme step-by-step in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions. North Korea, however, withdrew from the negotiations in April and began restoring its main nuclear site, which it had disabled as part of promises made at the six-nation talks.
North Korea's state media dismissed Lee's proposal of a grand bargain as "laughable."
South Korean media reported that the deputy chief North Korean negotiator to the six-party talks, Ri Gun, would probably visit the United States at the end of October. He has reportedly been invited to the North-east Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) meeting in California. Government representatives and scientists from other participating states in the six-party talks are also due to attend.
