Beijing  - Leaders of China, Japan and South Korea met on Saturday for talks that were expected to focus on North Korea and cooperation on trade and climate change.

Ahead of their talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said in Seoul that they wanted to agree on a "single step" solution to North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

China, South Korea and Japan are involved in six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programme. The United States, Russia and North Korea also participate in the talks, which have been stalled since late last year.

Lee proposed the one-step solution last month as a way to end North Korea's tactic of balking at completing each incremental step of its denuclearization and seeking incentives for each one.

The "grand bargain" would offer economic aid and security guarantees if North Korea agrees to complete denuclearization in a single step.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last week told Wen in Pyongyang that his country was willing to return to six-party talks if there was progress on bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea.

China's foreign ministry quoted Wu Dawei, its chief envoy to the six-party talks, as saying Wen and Kim Jong Il had "reached important agreement on promoting denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

"This is highly significant for the resumption of the six-party talks and signals that an important opportunity has emerged for the talks to come out of difficulties thanks to the concerted efforts of the parties concerned," Wu said.

But North Korea's state media dismissed Lee's proposal of a grand bargain as "laughable."

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea held their first three-way summit in Japan in December, although previous talks took place on the sidelines of meetings between the three nations and the Association of South-east Asian Nations ("ASEAN plus three"). (dpa)