The Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry has reported to the presidential transition committee a roadmap for making the Korean Peninsula nuclear free.

The plan aims to complete the denuclearization process by 2010, with the first step being Pyongyang's full disclosure of its nuclear program and disablement of key nuclear facilities by March.

The next phase is for the North to agree on a schedule for scrapping its nuclear program in the first half of the year.

A diplomatic source said nuclear disablement should be completed in March, though extracting spent fuel rods takes time. He added the North should disclose its nuclear program by that time at the latest.

Seoul plans to persuade Pyongyang to agree on a denuclearization schedule for full disablement in the first half of the year.

South Korea also wants to begin negotiations to replace the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace mechanism.

The Foreign Ministry told the committee that it aims to create a nuclear-free peninsula by 2010 and then sign a peace agreement.