Their high-level meeting in the southern city of Busan had been uncertain until the last minute as South Korea walked a tightrope between maintaining its policy of engaging its communist neighbor while condemning the launches.

South Korea has ruled out discussing the North's requests for further fertilizer and rice aid at the talks, saying it would instead tackle the launch of seven missiles on July 5 that heightened security fears in the region.

North Korea's chief delegate Kwon Ho-Ung called for "solidarity and reconciliation" between the two Koreas in line with the spirit of a joint declaration made on June 15, 2000, at a historic summit.

"No matter how the situation and circumstances change, the North and South must not leave this road of June 15, chosen by the Korean nation," Kwon said at a dinner speech.

Earlier, he drew an apparent parallel between this week's typhoon that hit the Korean peninsula and the furious Japanese and Western reaction to the missile tests.

"Typhoons do not distinguish the South from the North. If the North receives damage, the South also sustains damage," Kwon said when he was received by his Southern counterpart Lee Jong-Seok.

"Calamities do not stem only from within. They also come from the outside... we need to make best efforts to prevent calamities that may come from the outside," he said.

Kwon's comments come amid regional tension, with South Korea strongly criticizing calls by former colonial power Japan for tough action against the North over its launches.

A strongly worded statement from Roh's office on Tuesday accused Japan of returning to its past militarism after Japanese officials said they were examining if a pre-emptive strike would violate the 1947 constitution.

Japan, the United States and European nations have proposed a United Nations resolution to include sanctions. The North has said such a resolution would be a declaration of war and China, which holds veto power, opposes it.

Lee, South Korea's unification minister, said at the same dinner that the missile tests "caused instability in the region and damaged inter-Korean ties."

"I hope that we will have a good discussion to meet the expectations of the 80 million (Korean) people who are concerned about the current situation and anxious to see peace and co-prosperity of the North and South," Lee said.

Lee said last week the South would use the talks, which continue until early Friday, to condemn the missile launches and urge the North to return to the six-party talks on ending its nuclear weapons drive. Pyongyang has boycotted these since November over US financial sanctions against it.

South Korea has been the North's biggest donor since the start of the "sunshine policy."

President Roh Moo-Hyun's government was left embarrassed by the missile tests, including a new long-range Taepodong-2, as it had played down weeks of US and Japanese warnings of an imminent launch.

But the government went ahead with the Busan meeting, which is the highest-level standing dialogue between the Koreas.

Experts said North Korea may have chosen to talk to the South to show it is open to dialogue and eased tensions since Western countries, and especially Japan, are reacting strongly to the launches.

South Korea has shipped 350,000 tonnes of fertilizer to the North this year. North Korea had requested another 100,000 tonnes of fertilizer and 500,000 tonnes of rice.

North Korea has relied for the past decade on outside help to feed its 23 million people. But it is believed to have spent millions of dollars on last week's missile launch, which it said was aimed at boosting its defenses in the face of US hostility.

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