South Korea's president arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyan today for only the second summit between two states still technically at war.
South Korea's Roh Moo-hyun has billed his first trip to the communist North as a chance to end animosity born with the partition of the Korean peninsula at the end of World War Two.
But Mr Roh's critics say the visit is aimed more at domestic politics and expect him to tip-toe around the sensitive issues of nuclear weapons and human rights abuses.
North Korean crowds cheered when their leader, Kim Jong-il, arrived at a main city square and repeated the greeting minutes later as Mr Roh stepped out of an open car supplied by North Korea.
An unsmiling Mr Kim, wearing his trademark jumpsuit and platform shoes that made him appear taller than Mr Roh, then shook hands with the South Korean leader and his wife.
The greeting was in sharp contrast to Mr Kim's effusive welcome for South Korean President Kim Dae-jung at the start of the first summit in 2000. Then, the two leaders rode together in cars, embraced, held hands and harmonised in singing patriotic songs.
This week's meeting comes against a backdrop of regional talks to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions in return for massive aid and an end to its status as an international pariah.