Seoul - South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak will visit China later this month for talks on North Korea's nuclear programme and ways to strengthen ties between Seoul and Beijing, Lee's office said Tuesday.

Lee is scheduled to visit Beijing and the eastern Chinese coastal city of Qingdao on May 27-30. He plans to hold summit talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on May 27.

"Through his first visit to China, Lee would help enhance the partnership between the two countries and pave the way for further development of bilateral ties," a spokesman for Lee's office said.

The visit would also provide the government with an opportunity to strengthen cooperation for the settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue.

Lee, who took office on February 25, has pledged to boost relations with the United States and neighboring countries. He visited the US and Japan last month.

Meanwhile, South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Sook traveled to Beijing Tuesday for talks with his Chinese counterpart Wu Dawei.

They would discuss North Korea's declaration of its nuclear weapons programme and the resumption of the six-party talks aimed at ending the communist country's nuclear activities, officials said.

The talks come as hopes have risen that the six-party talks could be resumed soon.

Last week, North Korea handed over documents detailing the country's nuclear activities to a visiting delegation of US officials.

The US state department called it an "important first step" in the process of verifying that North Korea's eventual nuclear declaration is complete and correct.

Six-party talks - which are North and South Korea, the US, China, Russia and Japan - have been practically on ice for months due to differences on North Korea's declaration of all its nuclear projects.(dpa)