John King: S. Korea uneasy over the 'evil' word

John King

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- As he wrapped up his trip to South Korea, President Bush on Wednesday expressed hope that North Korea and South Korea may one day see an end to hostilities and the Korean Peninsula will be united as one country.

Bush visited U.S. troops stationed along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separates North and South Korea, and then met with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King is traveling with the president during his trip to East Asia, which will next stop in China. He spoke with CNN's Paula Zahn.

KING: The South Koreans wanted two things most of all from this trip here by President Bush. No. 1, they wanted a public embrace of [South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's] so-called "sunshine policy" toward the North...And they wanted Mr. Bush not to repeat at all the word "evil," a word he used in the State of the Union address and several times since to describe his views of North Korea.

The day of delicate diplomacy ended a mixed bag, if you will. And if you're keeping score from the South Korean standpoint, Mr. Bush did deliver a very public and effusive praise of the sunshine policy and there were pictures to back up his words: the two presidents visiting the Dorasan Rail Station; President Kim trying to increase economic and cultural ties between South and North by extending a railway and roads up across the Demilitarized Zone.

The two leaders signed a tie committing themselves to the reunification -- the peaceful reunification -- of the Korean Peninsula. But those railway tracks stopped just south of the DMZ.

The North has not completed the tracks on its side. Mr. Bush in a speech at the train station said he hoped for peace or reunification. He embraced President Kim's approach to the North. But he also made clear that he considered the regime to the North despotic.

And more tough talk from the president as he toured what many call the last frontier of the Cold War, the Demilitarized Zone. It is 2.5 miles wide, 151 miles across, still separating North from South 50 years after the end of the Korean War. Mr. Bush used binoculars to look across to the North, and as he was looking, a military officer told him the story.

Just on the other side of the DMZ is a North Korean peace museum. Hanging on display in that museum are two axes used to kill two U.S. servicemen who were patrolling the DMZ back in 1976. Mr. Bush recounted that story to the reporters traveling with him and said, "No wonder I consider them evil."

So more tough talk from the president today during his tour up there at the DMZ. He moves on to China next. Here in South Korea, [there are] still some concerns that the president's tough talk about the North -- even though Mr. Bush says he is open to negotiations -- will keep the North Korean government reluctant to sit down for those talks Mr. Bush and the South Koreans very much would like to have.