Seoul, South Korea ? North Korean President Kim Jong Il heard a Russian plan for ending his nation’s nuclear standoff during talks Monday with a Moscow envoy, his first known meeting with a foreigner since the crisis started.

The three-part plan, presented by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov, envisions nuclear-free status for the Korean peninsula, written security guarantees and a humanitarian and economic aid package for the impoverished North.

Losyukov was quoted as telling the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass that talks were “very warm” and “successful,” but he cautioned they were only a first step in ending the standoff with the United States over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

“Generally speaking, I think there is some optimism the problems can be resolved” provided the sides involved are prepared, Losyukov said on returning to Beijing from the insular nation.

Losyukov declined further comment, saying he had to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin about his trip. He said he would remain in China for another day to meet with officials. “I’m rather exhausted,” he said.

The talks represented a possible breakthrough in the dispute, even as U.S. officials sought support for taking it to the U.N. Security Council — a move that would increase pressure on the North, because the council can impose international sanctions.

Russia, along with China, is one of the communist North’s few remaining allies and seen as key to resolving the conflict or helping to arrange the direct talks Washington seeks with Pyongyang.

Kim, who like his father before him rules North Korea with an iron fist, is regarded as the only power in the isolated country who can make any decision on the nuclear issue.

His meeting with Losyukov was apparently his first with a foreigner since early December, when his country decided to reactivate nuclear facilities frozen under a 1994 energy deal with the United States. It since expelled U.N. monitors and quit a global anti-nuclear treaty.

Losyukov said Kim was expected to give his answer on the “package plan” directly to Putin.

Meanwhile, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton arrived today in Seoul for talks on the Korean issue, saying Washington wants to bring the nuclear crisis to the U.N. Security Council. But in comments to reporters, he sidestepped the issue of whether the United States would pursue sanctions.

Monday in Beijing, Bolton said after meeting with Chinese officials that China seems to have no objection to let the Security Council take up the issue.

Secretary of State Colin Powell received similar assurances from China’s foreign minister in New York, where both attended a U.N. conference on terrorism, a State Department spokesman said.

China has veto power on the council, whose possible sanctions could further cripple the impoverished North, dependent on international aid to help feed its 22 million people.