Pilot May Be Freed for Christmas : North Korea: Release of surviving airman said to be planned. U.S. warns report is unconfirmed.

As the tense impasse continued with North Korea over the return of captured helicopter pilot Bobby Hall, U.S. officials said Friday that they expect Hall to be released today.

Pyongyang said Hall would be released on Christmas Day, Korea time, the Yonhap News Agency reported. Korea is 14 hours ahead of Washington.

But a senior Pentagon official said, “We have no confirmation of that, and we believe it to be wrong at this stage.”

Negotiations were to continue today in Panmunjom, which straddles the border between North and South Korea.

President Clinton met with Rep. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.), who returned Friday from North Korea, and top national security aides to review negotiations with Pyongyang and consider the next steps if Chief Warrant Officer Hall is not released.

Afterward, Richardson said he hopes that Hall will be released “very soon” but cautioned that Pyongyang appears to be split on how to resolve the matter.

Clinton made no public comment after the meeting for fear of upsetting the delicate negotiations over Hall’s release.

But one State Department official said that “signs” from North Korea indicate a Christmas release. The official declined to elaborate on his reasons for optimism.

Hall and Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon strayed into North Korean territory last Saturday while flying an unarmed reconnaissance helicopter on a training mission. It is now believed that the North Koreans shot down the chopper after it crossed the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries.

Hilemon died in the incident; his body was released to Richardson on Thursday and returned to the United States on Friday.

Richardson described his negotiations with North Korean officials as “very heated and very testy,” adding that the North Koreans bridled at the pressure he put on them. At one point, he said, he stopped the talks for half a day and went into Pyongyang to sightsee.

At another juncture, the congressman said, North Korean officials ordered him to leave the country, but he refused until he was assured he could take Hilemon’s remains with him and that Hall would be freed soon.

After agreeing to release Hilemon’s body, the North Koreans ejected Richardson without committing to returning Hall.

During their Oval Office meeting Friday afternoon, Richardson said Clinton “was very concerned about Bobby Hall. He said: ‘Jesus, I just wish we could have him by Christmas. It’s so important to the American people.’ ”

Richardson said he told the President that he had been assured that Hall would be freed “very soon.”

Defense Secretary William J. Perry, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff and Deputy National Security Adviser Samuel Berger also attended the White House meeting.

No senior Administration official would comment on the matter on the record. One official, insisting he not be named, said: “It doesn’t serve the primary interest of getting (Hall) out to say anything right now. We’re just being very cautious.”

Another official suggested that a power struggle between the North Korean military and political leadership may be the cause of the delay and that U.S. pressure could exacerbate the problem.

An official at the North Korean mission to the United Nations in New York told the Associated Press on Friday that Hall was “still under investigation.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the helicopter “intentionally infiltrated the northern part of the Korean peninsula. Since the helicopter ignored warning signals . . . the People’s Army took self-defense measures.”

Richardson went to the White House directly from the airport after returning from Pyongyang.

He had been drawn into the negotiations while he was in the country discussing an agreement under which North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for Western aid and increased diplomatic contacts with the outside world.

Richardson was not allowed to see Hall, 28, who was being held at a military base near the crash site. But he was allowed to send a message to the airman telling him that the United States was working to obtain his release and a message from his wife, Donna Hall.

“The North Koreans told me his health was good, that he had not been wounded in the crash,” Richardson said. “I accept that at face value.”

Times staff writers Jim Mann and Art Pine contributed to this report.