TOKYO - On a quick trip to Asia, President Clinton met with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Thursday in a show of solidarity before next week's first summit between the long divided Korean nations.
''There is really no daylight between the United States and South Korea on the proper approach to North Korea in this summit,'' said Ken Lieberthal, the National Security Council's senior director for Asian affairs.
Clinton conferred with Kim after attending the state funeral of the late Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. The president also met briefly with Obuchi's successor, Yoshiro Mori, as he spent less than nine hours in Tokyo before heading home. The Tokyo trip came just one day after the president's return to the White House from a weeklong visit to Europe.
Kim is to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in the North's capital, Pyongyang, for three days of talks beginning Monday. It will be the first summit ever between the two Koreas, which were partitioned into the communist North and the pro-Western South in 1945. They fought a three-year war in the early 1950s that left 5 million people dead, injured or missing.
The United States had high hopes that the meeting might yield a process for the two Koreas to began talking about reunification.
During their 25-minute meeting, Kim told Clinton he hoped the summit would be a turning point in resolving tensions, national security spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
''President Kim said during the meeting, 'We will still need patience. This is just a first step,''' Crowley said. ''It's safe to say decades of conflict are not going to melt away in one meeting. But if coming out of this is a process for building a dialogue, that would have a tremendous effect on reducing tensions on the (Korean) peninsula.''
The United States announced in September that it was easing sanctions against North Korea. Crowley said the procedures for implementing that decision would be announced soon.
Immediately upon his arrival in Tokyo, Clinton went to the Akasaka Guest House to meet with Mori. They spent about 30 minutes discussing the summit of industrialized nations set for next month in Japan, and U.S.-Japan telecommunications trade.
Between meetings, Clinton attended the state funeral for Obuchi, who died last month following a stroke. Along with U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley, Clinton bowed and laid flowers on a table before a small casket containing Obuchi's ashes; he did not speak during the service.
Later, at Foley's residence, Clinton praised Obuchi for guiding Japan through a severe economic crisis while maintaining a human touch.
''I think history will record that Keizo Obuchi rose to the challenge with courage and confidence,'' Clinton said. ''(He) represented to the whole world the Japanese virtues of honor and loyalty, vision and determination, love for, and commitment to, ordinary people. Our world is a better place thanks to the life that he lived and the work that he did.''
Clinton recalled how Obuchi delivered an ''unhittable pitch'' to Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa during a visit last year. He said he cherishes a painting of Mount Fuji that Obuchi gave him during his last visit to Washington.
Clinton arrived in Tokyo just as Mori finished meeting with the South Korean president. Lieberthal said Mori noted the importance of cooperation between the United States, South Korea and Japan in getting North Korea to ''think in more creative and flexible terms.'' They did not discuss easing sanctions, Lieberthal said.
He said Clinton and Kim were merely ''touching base and reaffirming we will work closely together on this.''
