Leaders of two Koreas pledge open discussion of their differences

SEOUL, South Korea - North and South Korean officials met on the second day of a historic summit Wednesday, after the South's leader pledged a day earlier to work toward reunification and North Korea's leader said he was ready to open ''dialogue without reserve.''

But limited media access to the talks make it difficult to determine just what was happening between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The meeting between the two governments resumed Wednesday with Kim Dae-jung attending without his counterpart, according to the print and television reports shown at a media center in Seoul. Kim Yong Nam, the North's ceremonial head of state, hosted the meeting.

The reports said South Korea raised the issues of a ''hot line'' for contact between the two nations during confrontations, economic cooperation and family reunions, but provided no details. The pool reports also said the two leaders would meet separately later Wednesday.

On the opening day of the summit, optimism about possible breakthroughs between the two heavily armed countries ran high as Kim Jong Il warmly welcomed Kim Dae-jung in an airport ceremony. They held hands during a limousine ride into the North's capital, Pyongyang, traveling along avenues lined with hundreds of thousands of people waving bouquets of pink paper flowers.

But on Wednesday, Kim Dae-jung's spokesman, Park Joon-young, denied front-page reports in South Korean newspapers that the two leaders had agreed to establish the ''hot line.''

''Both sides are discussing that, but no agreement has been reached yet,'' Park told reporters in Seoul.

The 50 South Korean journalists who were allowed to travel there to cover the two leaders filed sketchy pool reports to the hundreds of foreign journalists who were forced to remain in Seoul.

Tuesday was a day mostly given to the pomp of an unexpectedly elaborate welcome, and the two leaders expressed hopes for an end to more than a generation of hostilities.

Nearly 50 years to the week since the Korean War began, South Korea's president appealed for reunions of separated families and for the opening of land, sea and air routes.

''Let us open up the road that has been blocked off for half a century,'' Kim Dae-jung said. ''Let us open new sea lanes of communication and air routes, too.''

''When that happens all Koreans will be able to travel freely between the two sides and work toward reconciliation, cooperation and eventual reunification,'' he said.

Kim Jong Il, one of the world's most reclusive leaders, urged a ''dialogue without reserve,'' according to South Korean pool reports. Non-Korean journalists were barred from traveling with the South Korean president to Pyongyang for the three-day summit.

Kim Dae-jung's visit began with a surprise welcome by Kim Jong Il at the airport on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

''The world is closely watching us. Why President Kim came to North Korea and why I accepted is a question mark,'' the North's leader said.

''We have to give the answer to this question during the two nights and three days,'' the pool quoted him as saying. ''I ask not only President Kim, but also (accompanying) ministers, to make contributions to this.''

In Washington, White House press secretary Joe Lockhart underscored the importance of the summit, saying the Clinton administration was ''heartened to see the warm welcome'' Kim Dae-jung had received.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan saluted ''the vision and wisdom'' of the two leaders in opening the historic dialogue, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.

Annan was hopeful the summit would produce substantive results, ''marking a turning point towards lasting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and throughout the entire region, as well as national reunification,'' Eckhard said.

At the airport, Kim Jong Il stepped forward to shake hands with the southern leader, and the two smiled and clapped for each other. The reception included a military band, goose-stepping soldiers and women dressed in traditional, billowing Korean gowns.

The two leaders then rode together in a limousine to the North Korean capital, where an estimated 600,000 people lined block after block. The spectators appeared to direct their emotion at Kim Jong Il, chanting his name as the motorcade passed through the city of 2 million.

Pyongyang's Central TV downplayed the presence of the South's president, focusing instead on the man who has ruled the North's totalitarian regime with the benefit of a personality cult since 1994.

''The vast airport and streets of Pyongyang burned with emotions because so many people turned out to see our Great Leader Kim Jong Il,'' a television announcer said.

The North's foreign news outlet, KCNA, remarked that Kim Dae-jung had arrived in Pyongyang ''at his own request'' - apparently meaning to suggest he was a supplicant to Kim Jong Il.

Still, it was an unexpectedly warm start to the first meeting between the heads of the two Koreas since they were divided following World War II.

At the North's main state guesthouse, Kim Jong Il explained Pyongyang's secretive approach to the summit, telling Kim Dae-jung: ''We were unable to publicize your visit through newspapers and the radio because of security.''

''In the South, things may work out well if you advertise them, but we will be all right if we pursue only the substance.''

In another exchange, Kim Jong Il said: ''I am convinced that all problems will be resolved.''

Replied Kim Dae-jung: ''I agree. From now, we must talk directly.''

Besides family reunions and the opening of travel routes, the South's president is expected to ask Kim Jong Il for a summit sequel in Seoul, as well as other conciliatory gestures in exchange for economic resources from the South. North Korea was unable to feed its own people in the late 1990s and is now reliant on food aid from its traditional foes: South Korea, Japan and the United States.

Desperation for economic aid is believed to be a major factor in driving the North to agree to the summit.

Korea's leaders have a host of touchy issues to resolve, among them the North's long-range missile and nuclear programs and the 37,000 U.S. troops deployed in the South. Their role has been to deter the North, which is believed to have stockpiles of chemical weapons and one of the world's largest standing armies.

Reunification - the stated goal of both Koreas - also was likely to be a lengthy and difficult process.