Seoul  - South Korea and Japan said Friday that they want to end North Korea's pattern of nuclear concessions followed by backtracking and threats by resolving the nuclear dispute in one fell swoop.

Both countries want a package deal that would denuclearize North Korea in one step, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak said after meeting with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in Seoul.

"We agreed on the need for a fundamental and comprehensive solution to the North Korean nuclear issue that will not lead to the negotiation tactics of the past, and we agreed to work closely together on a way to resolve the issue in a single step," Lee said at a joint press conference after the summit.

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

Those talks have produced agreements in which Pyongyang has promised to dismantle its nuclear programme step-by-step in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions. North Korea, however, withdrew from the negotiations in April and began restoring its main nuclear site, which is had disabled as part of promises made at the six-nation talks.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao this week 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. (dpa)