The ministry's report to the transition team for Lee, who takes office next month, said a concrete disarmament schedule should be established in the first half of this year, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The ministry had reported it would push to "complete the nuclear dismantlement by 2010 with all nuclear materials, including plutonium, and detonators to be taken out" of North Korea, Yonhap said.

The ministry also hopes to begin separate talks -- in time with the dismantling -- to sign a peace pact and bring about a formal end the 1950-1953 Korean War, it said.

It was not clear whether the South Korean plan had been coordinated with other nations at the six-party nuclear disarmament talks on the North. Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

The six-nation process has been stuck in limbo sincePyongyang missed a key December 31 deadline to disable its main nuclear facilities and give a full declaration of its atomic programmes.

A hurdle was the North's suspected uranium enrichment programme, which Washington says exists but Pyongyang flatly denies, negotiators say.

"The disabling would be completed in March, given the time needed for removing nuclear spent fuel rods," an unnamed diplomatic source told Yonhap. "The declaration issue should also be settled by then."

Top US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill, on a regional tour last week, urged Pyongyang to give a "correct and complete" declaration to keep the six-party talks alive.

Hill said it would be "desirable" for the North to come clean on all its weapons programmes before Lee, who has signalled a tougher line on Pyongyang, takes office in Seoul on February 25.

The North agreed to a landmark deal in February 2007 with South Korea, China, the United Sates, Russia and Japan to abandon all its nuclear weapons programmes in return for economic aids and other political benefits.

The non-economic incentives include full diplomatic relations with the United States and Japan and a formal peace treaty.

related report
US nuclear envoy urges progress from NKorea
Chief US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill called Friday for movement from North Korea on the long-running international row over its nuclear weapons programme after talks with his Russian counterpart.

But Hill, who discussed the issue with South Korea's president-elect Lee Myung-Bak in Seoul on Thursday, backed off from setting any fresh deadlines.

"There is a new South Korean government to be installed on February 25," he told reporters after talks with his Russian counterpart Alexander Losyukov.

"It would be nice if this was solved ahead of time (...) but I am not setting any new deadline."

North Korea missed a key December 31 deadline to disable its main nuclear facilities and give a full declaration of its atomic programmes in return for economic aid under a deal agreed in February 2007.

Lee, who formally takes office on February 25, has insisted that North Korea should remove all its nuclear weapons before having meaningful aid and economic assistance from the South.

Hill, who wants a quick resumption of six-party disarmament talks, has called for patience over the stalemate.

He has said that none of the nations involved -- both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- want to walk away from talks.

Following his meeting with Losyukov, Hill said: "We both have good appreciation of the difficulty of the task ahead.

"But also a strong determination to work very closely with China, the chair of the six parties' process, to make sure we finish this."

Losyukov told reporters: "We share our partners' regret at the slow movement of the process, but at the same time you must understand that this a difficult and a bumpy road that we have to follow."

Russia was in the final stages of deliveries of fuel oil to North Korea, which would be completed by January 20 or 21, he added.

North Korea had previously agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapons and to provide a complete list of its nuclear programmes to keep the six-nation disarmament process going in exchange for energy supplies.

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