The meeting on May 9 would cover ways to ease tension over North Korea's nuclear weapons drive, the president's office said.

It will be the second summit between the two leaders in six months after one held in Chile in November last year on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

The summit is part of Roh's efforts to get North Korea back to six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons programs. Roh hopes to meet US President George W. Bush in June or July.

China hosted three rounds of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Russia, the United States and Japan. North Korea failed to show up for a fourth round set for September 2004.