South Korean delegation Tuesday made consultations with its US and Japanese counterparts on the eve of the six-party nuclear talks in Beijing to coordinate their joint stance.

Although no details of the coordination was available,South Korean head delegate,Vice Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck described the consultations as "very useful."

Three weeks ago,negotiators from South Korea,US and Japan also met in Washington over the solution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)nuclear issue.

Lee Soo-hyuck,who attended the Washington meeting,indicated "significant progress"had been made on their joint strategy for the Aug.27talks.But he declined to elaborated on the details.

DPRK has demanded a non-aggression treaty with Washington,but the latter declined the request and demanded it to first dismantle its nuclear program.

Since the DPRK nuclear issue surfaced late last year,the South Korea government has made efforts with other concerning parties trying to bring a peaceful end to the issue.

After the trilateral nuclear talks attended by US,the DPRK and China held in April in Beijing,Seoul expressed in various opportunities that it wants to play a constructive role in solving the issue.

It seems that South Korea does not expect much from the first round of the Aug.27multilateral talks."Given characteristics of the nuclear problem,it is difficult to expect it to be resolved in a round of talks or two,"South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said.

South Korea outlined its initial goal:to strengthen dialogue and trust among countries in the first round of talks.It will hold it successful if the concerning parties understand each others'stance over the nuclear issue,and could fix the date for the next round of talks.

It saw the Aug.27talks a start of the negotiation process of the nuclear issue."It would not be appropriate to expect something too big from the talks,"Yoon pointed out,adding either being optimistic or pessimistic over the talks is not right.

Local media here forecast that South Korea will at last demand the DPRK to scrap its nuclear weapon program irreversibly and verifiably and in return promise economic and humanitarian aid."When the nuclear standoff is solved,South Korea is willing to take the lead in helping develop its economy,"Roh pledged.

The South Korea's economic assistance to the DPRK would include its support for DPRK's membership in international financial organizations as well as an energy assistance package,South Korean government sources said.

The Seoul delegation was also reported to try to limit the discussion to the nuclear issue in order to prevent it from being sidetracked by other issues,such as Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi claiming that Japan would raise the issue of abduction of Japanese citizens by the DPRK in 1970s.

South Korea,the military ally of US and the brotherhood of the DPRK,holds the multilateral talks a well start,and must be continued,according to presidential aids.

Just before its delegation headed for Beijing,Seoul revealed a three-step plan concerning the solution of the DPRK nuclear issue.The parties involved would first have to agree to freeze the situation,that is,Pyongyang would agree not to advance its nuclear weapons or missile programs.Then the Agreed Framework signed between Pyongyang and Washington in year of 1994will be resumed,under which,the DPRK suspends its nuclear facilities and the United States provides 500,000tons of heavy fuel oil to it every year and helps it build two light-water reactors before 2004in return.

The last step is for the DPRK to fully scrap its nuclear program,and the United States guarantees Pyongyang's security in some format.

South Korea forecast five or six rounds of talks may be needed for a full resolution of the nuclear issue.

It thinks highly of the talks,for it holds the nuclear issue must be peacefully solved through dialogue.Just like Roh Moo-hyunonce said the peaceful resolution of the DPRK nuclear issue is a key to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula as well as the prosperity of the South Korea economy.