US/NORTH KOREA: President Bush took his tough message about North Korea right to the communist state's border yesterday, demanding that Pyongyang end a regime that represses and starves its people.
Mr Bush urged the country to make peace with South Korea and to open dialogue, particularly on weapons of mass destruction.
Speaking at the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which has divided the two countries for almost half a century on the second leg of his Asian tour, Mr Bush said people on both sides of the border want to live in freedom and dignity, without threat of famine and war.
"Korean children should never starve while a massive army is fed. No nation should be a prison for its own people," he said. The US President stared across the last Cold War frontier into North Korea, saying he had no plans to invade but was keen to talk while ready to deter aggression. He said he would speak out until the North Korean leader, Mr Kim Jong-il, mended his ways.
Later Mr Bush praised the South Korean President, Mr Kim Dae-jung, for his "sunshine policy" toward the North describing it as a "vision of reconciliation over rivalry".
Speaking after talks with Mr Kim in Seoul, Mr Bush said he would not change his opinion on Mr Kim Jong-il, until he freed his people and accepted genuine proposals from countries such as South Korea to dialogue.
Both leaders said their talks had been frank - diplomatic code for saying they differed.
However, political analysts said they appeared to have found enough in common to bridge perceived policy gaps, particularly since Mr Bush described North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" last month.
Security was tight in the South Korean capital with 20,000 riot police on duty as Mr Bush met President Kim Dae-jung. Activists staged protests against Mr Bush's stance on North Korea.
In the largest of left-wing rallies, police were involved in scuffles with 1,000 protesters and reportedly turned on local journalists and punched photographers.
Mr Bush made it clear yesterday that the bottom line was a change in Mr Kim Jong-il's ways. "We're peaceful people. We have no intention of invading North Korea," he said.
North Korea, which has more than a million troops but receives food aid from the international community to stave off malnutrition, has rejected calls for talks, claiming Mr Bush is preparing for war.
"I'm troubled by a regime that tolerates starvation," Mr Bush said.
"I think the burden of proof is on the North Korean leader to prove that he does care about his people."
In a speech at Dorasan, the last South Korean railway station before the North-South frontier and Demilitarised Zone bisecting the peninsula, Mr Bush said the rusted rails symbolised half a century of division.
At a US-manned post on the border, when asked his thoughts as he looked at North Korea, Mr Bush said: "We're ready". The United States has 37,000 troops based in South Korea.