The JoongAng daily quoted an unidentified high-ranking South Korean government official as saying the extended agenda formed the centrepiece of the US "Road Map" for contacts with the North.

The plan was presented when officials from South Korea, Japan and the United States met here in January for a regular meeting to coordinate policies toward the communist state, the official said.

The so-called Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (TCOG) is scheduled to meet again in Japan in April.

"At the next TCOG meeting, the Road Map is expected to be endorsed as it was presented by the United States," the official was quoted as saying. Foreign ministry officials declined to comment on the report.

The agenda included not only the long-standing topics such as North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and missiles but conventional weapons, human rights and the North's stance toward terrorism.

According to the Road Map, the United States would set up full diplomatic ties with North Korea when a comprehensive agreement is reached on the five agenda items, it said.

It would also gradually ease economic sanctions on North Korea should progress be made on each topic.

South Korea reportedly prefers to separate weapons of mass destruction and missiles from other thorny issues including North Korea's conventional weapons and human rights.

It also wants the administration of US President George W. Bush to pick up from talks started by the previous administration of Bill Clinton on the North's weapons of mass destruction and missiles. Washington now wants to begin new talks, the daily said.

North Korea on Thursday accused the United States of conducting a "smear campaign" after the US State Department listed it among the world's worst human rights offenders.

Difficult US-North Korea relations have worsened since Bush described the North as being part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq earlier this year.

Despite Washington's repeated offers of talks, North Korea has said it will never negotiate with the Bush administration.

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