SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea today stepped up diplomatic efforts to stop North Korea from launching a new ballistic missile by holding high-level talks with China and Japan.

South Korean Foreign Minister Hong Soon-young was scheduled to meet with his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Komura, today in Tokyo.

In Beijing, China and South Korea planned to discuss North Korea today in the first ever meeting between defense ministers of the two former Korean War adversaries.

Also today, South Korea's Unification Minister Lim Dong-won left Seoul for a weeklong visit to the United States, which includes talks with former Defense Secretary William Perry, Washington's point man on North Korea.

The three-pronged South Korean efforts have the same agenda: what carrot it and the other two allies could offer if North Korea decides not to launch a missile experts say could reach Hawaii and Alaska.

North Korea has reportedly completed preparations to test-fire a long-range missile, but has expressed willingness to negotiate in response to international appeals and warnings to scrap the launch.

"We are always ready for negotiation if the hostile nations honestly ask for it out of an intention to alleviate our concern," a spokesman of the North's Foreign Ministry said last week.

The unidentified spokesman said his country developed missiles because the United States wants to invade the North and has deployed a large number of weapons and troops in South Korea.

Analysts believe the North wants economic and political benefits in return for holding off on a test, which many fear would unsettle security in the region.

South Korean officials attached special significance to the meeting between their defense minister, Cho Sung-tae, and his Chinese counterpart, Chi Haotian.

The two countries have shed much of their Cold War enmity through economic links. They are now each other's third-largest trading partners, with a trade volume of $23.7 billion.

China remains North Korea's last remaining major communist ally. But their relations have cooled since Beijing opened formal relations with Seoul in 1992.

South Korea believes Beijing is in the best position among major powers to persuade Pyongyang to forgo the reported missile launch.

In Tokyo, the Japanese and South Korean foreign ministers agreed there were signs North Korea may be ready for dialogue.

Japan has openly threatened economic penalties if the launch takes place, possibly including a ban on hundreds of millions of dollars sent by pro-North Korea Korean residents of Japan to their impoverished homeland each year.

In San Francisco, Lim was scheduled to meet Perry later this week.

The meeting comes amid reports that the United States has offered North Korea wide-ranging economic and political benefits if Pyongyang holds off on a missile test.

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