Seoul, South Korea ? Leaders of the two Koreas opened formal talks today at the first summit between the divided countries in seven years, following a chilly reception for the South Korean president from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Kim began meeting about 9:30 a.m., South Korean pool reports said, after the opening day of the summit Tuesday where the two had no contact besides a 12-minute welcoming ceremony where they barely exchanged words.

This week’s summit is only the second time leaders of the North and South have met since the Korean peninsula was divided after World War II.

On Tuesday, despite rapturous cheers from hundreds of thousands of North Koreans as Roh arrived, Kim was reserved.

The words “I’m glad to meet you” were apparently the only ones he uttered during the brief welcoming ceremony that launched the three-day summit.

Kim did not hold more meetings with Roh on Tuesday. Instead he let his deputy, the country’s nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, deal with the South Koreans for the rest of the day. They held talks and the North hosted a banquet where Roh offered a toast to Kim Jong Il’s health.

The North Korean leader’s apparent snub contrasted with a friendly reception that the North’s leader gave to Roh’s predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, at the first-ever summit in 2000.

During an airport reception at that time, Kim Jong Il greeted his South Korean counterpart with smiles and clasped both his hands tightly in an emotional moment that softened the North Korean strongman’s image to South Koreans and the world.

In the first summit, the two leaders also rode together in a limousine to central Pyongyang and held about a half-hour of talks on the first day.

This time, it was unclear what made Kim appear less enthusiastic about the summit in what could be an ominous sign for two rounds of official talks between the two leaders scheduled for today.