South Korean President Crosses Border for Landmark Summit

South Korea's president, Roh Moo-hyun, today walked across the heavily armed border with North Korea on his way to a summit in Pyongyang.

His meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, was only the second-ever such summit between the two countries, which remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a ceasefire.

Mr Roh, who has just five months left in office, said he would use the talks to press for peace and an eventual arms cut for the states and may pledge billions of dollars for North Korea's beleaguered economy.

Crossing near the North Korean city of Kaesong, the South Korean delegation was greeted by North Korean officials.

Mr Roh and his wife, Kwon Yang-sook, stepped across a yellow plastic strip marked with the words "peace" and "prosperity" which was laid across the line that divides the two countries.

"This line is a wall that has divided the nation for a half-century. Our people have suffered from too many hardships and development has been held up due to this wall," Mr Roh said.

"This line will be gradually erased and the wall will fall. I will make efforts to make my walk across the border an occasion to remove the forbidden wall and move toward peace and prosperity."

The summit in Seoul is scheduled to last three days.

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said he hoped the talks would ease tensions and advance negotiations on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

Mr Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, told North Korean ambassador Pak Gil-yon he hoped for a "great historic successful result out of this meeting".

The summit comes at a time of international talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament, with Pyongyang negotiators expected to respond Tuesday to the latest road map.

North Korea tested a nuclear bomb a year ago but has since shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor and tentatively agreed to disable its facilities by the end of the year.

Critics said the summit is symbolic at best, prompted by domestic political concerns, and will only skirt North Korea's nuclear arms program and its widely criticized human rights record.

Surveys have showed that South Koreans favor the summit and eventual unification, but they want the process to go slowly, fearing that the hundreds of billions of dollars it would cost to absorb its neighbor would wreck their economy.