China's Hu in South Korea for talks on North

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao, buoyed by an Olympics that lifted the global status of his country, went to South Korea on Monday for talks on expanding trade and ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.

Hu's two-day visit comes less than 24 hours after the closing of the Beijing Olympics and as regional powers press North Korea to accept a nuclear inspection system as part of a disarmament deal the secretive North struck with five countries.

"We believe the visit will be a turning point in the two countries' relationship, which has been primarily an economic one, to expand into all areas, including politics, defence and culture," an official at the South Korean presidential Blue House said at the weekend.

The two sides have discussed a free-trade deal, but Seoul has been wary of initiating formal talks because of the potential flood of cheap farm products. It is not on the summit agenda.

China, the North's main benefactor, is also South Korea's largest trading partner with $145 billion (79 billion pounds) in annual two-way trade, according to official South Korean data.

In late June, North Korea presented a long-delayed account of its nuclear weapons programme that contained information about plutonium production at the talks hosted by Beijing among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Hu and President Lee Myung-bak met in Beijing in early August before the Games' opening. They plan to discuss in Seoul ways to combat dust whipped up by sandstorms in the Gobi Desert that mixes with pollution in China and fouls the air over the Korean peninsula each year.

The two are scheduled to sign agreements on cooperation in energy conservation, promoting trade and technological research, and improving the safety of food being traded between them.