FORMER US president Jimmy Carter on Tuesday began a visit to North Korea aimed at easing tensions on the divided peninsula, but South Korea reacted sceptically to the mission.
Mr Carter and three other retired world leaders accompanying him say they also want to assess food shortages and help revive stalled six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
Schoolchildren greeted a smiling Mr Carter and his party at Pyongyang airport with bouquets.
But in Seoul, Foreign Minister Kim Sung Hwan said he expects little from the trip. Efforts to improve North-South relations are deadlocked, with the North refusing to accept blame for two deadly border incidents last year.
The six-party talks have not been held since December 2008 and in May 2009 Pyongyang staged its second nuclear weapons test. In November it disclosed a uranium enrichment plant, a potential second way to build atomic weapons.
China has been pushing to restart the six-party forum that it chairs, but South Korea and the United States say the North must first mend cross-border relations.
Photo By Reuters