"We appreciate that China has the same thought as us that the disarmament of North Korea is for its own benefit," the president-elect told Chinese ambassador Ning Fukui, part of a round of consultations with envoys from regional powers.

China since 2003 has hosted the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear disarmament which also groups the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia.

"We have high expectations of China that it has a key role to play," Lee was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying, two days after winning a landslide election victory.

Lee has promised to push North Korea to denuclearise and improve its human rights record in return for economic aid. He says he will link aid more closely to disarmament that was the case with Seoul's liberal governments over the past decade.

Lee called for a stronger alliance between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo in working towards the North's nuclear disarmament during a telephone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda Friday.

"The three-way cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan is most important in solving the North Korea nuclear issue," he was quoted as saying by his spokesperson Park Hyong-Joon.

"I promise to do my best in boosting bilateral ties with Japan to achieve the goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula."

The North is disabling its atomic plants but has not yet made a full declaration of its nuclear activities, as required under a six-party pact.

Fukuda agreed to cooperate closely on nuclear issues and asked Lee to visit Japan soon. Relations between the two nations have often been prickly because of territorial disputes and lingering resentment over Japan's 1910-45 occupation.

Lee also met Russian ambassador Gleb Ivashentsov and proposed a project to jointly develop natural resources in the Russian Far East that would also involve cheap labour from North Korea.

The project will be a priority after he is sworn in on February 25, he said.

The Russian envoy did not give an immediate response but delivered a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, congratulating Lee on his election victory and inviting him to Moscow.

Putin was quoted by the envoy as saying that relations "will rise to a much higher level during Lee's term of office."

Friday's meetings completed Lee's first talks with envoys of regional powers as president-elect, following discussions with the US and Japanese ambassadors on Thursday.

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