Presidents Lee Myung-Bak and Hu Jintao will meet one-to-one next Monday to "mainly discuss North Korea-related issues" before holding an expanded summit with aides, the presidential aide said.

Ties between the two Koreas are at their lowest ebb for a decade, with official contacts cut off. Six-nation nuclear negotiations chaired by China have also hit a snag.

"We will explain our policy on North Korea and request China to play a constructive role in improving inter-Korean relations," the aide told reporters on condition of anonymity.

"We will ask China to play an active role as host of six-party talks for the thorough verification of North Korea's declaration and entry to the third phase of denuclearisation."

China is a longstanding ally of the impoverished North and a major donor of food and fuel.

Inter-Korean ties have worsened since Lee took office in February, promising to take a firmer line with the North.

Relations were strained even further by the fatal shooting of a Seoul tourist at a mountain resort in North Korea last month, after she strayed into a restricted military zone.

Under a six-nation deal the North in June handed over details of its plutonium-based nuclear programme, but cannot agree with the United States on ways to verify it.

The six-party talks group the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan.

The verification dispute is delaying efforts to move to the final phase of the deal, under which the North would dismantle its atomic plants and hand over all nuclear weapons and material.

The presidents and their aides will discuss strengthening their "strategic partnership," cooperating in economic and trade matters, promoting exchanges and working together in the region and internationally.

China is South Korea's largest trade partner with two-way trade worth more than 145 billion dollars last year. Seoul had invested a total of 22.54 billion dollars in China as of end-2007 and the two sides are studying a possible free trade agreement.

But Seoul officials often speak of fears that their economy is becoming "sandwiched" between low-cost China and hi-tech Japan.

The aide said economic issues have previously dominated relations. Next week's meeting, the third between the two leaders since Lee took office in February, would aim to expand ties into various other sectors.

Hu will arrive a day after the Olympics winds up.

"His South Korean trip due the very following day after the closing of the Beijing Olympics will demonstrate ever-closer bilateral relations," said presidential spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan this week.

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