**Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea are meeting in Beijing for talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme.**Tokyo and Seoul are pushing a policy of withholding aid packages until after the North has dismantled its nuclear weapons programme.
But correspondents say that winning China’s support may not be easy.
North Korea has indicated that it may return to multi-party talks on the issue but wants direct negotiations with the US first.
On Friday, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said sanctions against North Korea should remain in place until it began dismantling its nuclear programme.
But Mr Lee told reporters the countries had agreed on the “need for a fundamental and comprehensive solution” to the nuclear issue.
The two leaders agreed to offer North Korea a one-off package of aid in exchange for denuclearisation, instead of the step-by-step measures that have been followed since the talks began in 2003.
They are expected to discuss the proposal with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who recently met North Korean leader Kim Jong-il on a visit to Pyongyang.
On Monday, Mr Kim told Mr Wen he was “willing to attend multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the progress in its talks with the United States”.
Conditions
Pyongyang pulled out of the six party talks in April this year and tensions in the region rose after it launched a series of missiles and conducted an underground nuclear test - drawing UN sanctions in response.
The country had previously said it would never re-engage with the multilateral talks, which include delegates from the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan.
The US has said it is willing to engage directly with North Korea, but only as part of a return to the six-party forum.
Washington has said it is seeking the North’s complete denuclearisation.
The BBC’s Michael Bristow in Beijing says that winning China’s support for the latest proposals may not be easy as it sees North Korea as a close ally.
But as North Korea’s biggest trading partner, it holds the greatest sway over the secretive Pyongyang regime.