FACTBOX: S.Korea, China try to move beyond business ties

(Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits South Korea on Monday to discuss energy cooperation and ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but also to seek ways to develop ties beyond a lucrative trading partnership.

Following are some bilateral issues on the agenda of his summit talks with President Lee Myung-bak.

NORTH KOREA

- China has hosted six-country talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program since 2003. Regional powers have been pressing the North to accept tough verification of its disclosure of its plutonium-producing program under the disarmament deal.

TRADE

- China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with two-way trade totaling $145 billion in 2007, according to South Korean figures. South Korea's main exports to China are steel and electronics and it imports farm goods, minerals and textiles.

Both sides have discussed negotiating a free-trade deal, but Seoul has been wary of such an agreement because of the potential flood of cheap farm products from China, and officials say it is not on the summit agenda.

OLD WAR FOES

- Lee's aides say the two leaders will try to broaden ties from trade to politics, defense and cooperation on the world stage. To start, both sides want to strengthen military cooperation.

China fought alongside North Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War and was a signatory to the truce that halted it.

North Korea, which considers China its closest ally, does less than $2 billion of trade with China a year.

SAND STORMS

- On the agenda is how to cooperate on slowing the desertification of inland China. Wind storms kick up a caustic mix of sand and chemicals that fouls the air over the Korean peninsula each spring.

FINANCIAL MARKETS

- Both sides will open each other's financial markets to institutions from the other country, first by licensing them to deal in local stock markets.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner and David Fogarty)