The visitors left messages of hope

Hundreds of elderly South Koreans took the 85-minute trip from Seoul - expressing hope that they might one day be reunited with long-lost relatives in the North.

The two countries held a landmark summit in 2000 in which they pledged to restore a cross-border rail route and reunite families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War.

But the North has broken off official contact with the South, citing its political tensions with the US.

I was so excited to go one step closer to North Korea where I left behind my parents

Chang Duik-man

A new war of words has broken out ahead of US President George Bush's scheduled trip to South Korea next week.

Two weeks ago Mr Bush described North Korea as part of an "axis of evil". North Korea responded by saying the US was the "empire of the devil".

Emotional trip

Tuesday's special visit to Dorasan station, just south of the heavily fortified border with the North, was chosen to coincide with lunar New Year.

The South Koreans held a ceremony to honour ancestors across the border, in which they bowed northward.

North Korea is angry with Mr Bush's policies

One woman shouted "mother, mother" before being led away in tears. Others said prayers and left messages on the railway sleepers.

South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, leading the delegation, called on North Korea to reschedule exchanges of elderly Koreans that the North postponed last October.

It would have been the fourth such exchange since the June 2000 summit.

"Before too much time passes, we must make it possible for people to take the Kyongui line to their hometowns and hold ancestor memorials with their entire families," said Mr Jeong.

One passenger, 68-year-old Chang Duik-man, said: "I was so excited to go one step closer to North Korea, where I left behind my parents."

Under the 2000 agreement between North and South, the rail line will eventually connect Seoul with the North Korean capital Pyongyang.

South Korea has nearly finished its side but the North has not started work yet. However, Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, reported on Tuesday that North Korea has built wooden barracks for engineers.

The two Koreas remain technically at war as they never signed a peace treaty when hostilities ended in 1953.