Wellington  - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who recently signed a groundbreaking free trade pact with China, said Monday that she would propose negotiations for similar agreements with Japan and South Korea when she visits them next month.

She told her weekly news conference that she did not know how they would respond, but added, "I think China's willingness to sign agreements of this kind should be cause for reflection in other places."

New Zealand was the first developed country to complete a free trade agreement with China. Chile has since signed a similar pact and Beijing is in negotiations with Australia.

Clark confirmed she would visit Tokyo and Seoul for top-level talks in mid-May.

Progress on free trade is likely with South Korea because both countries have already commissioned a joint study that backed an agreement, but protectionist Japan is a much harder sell, the New Zealand Herald said.

Clark told the paper that she had raised the matter with then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi on her last visit to Japan in June 2005 and she would take the same message to the incumbent Yasuo Fukuda. (dpa)