SEOUL, South Korea — President Bush said today that North Korea has much to do before the U.S. can remove it from the terrorism blacklist, but he expressed hope that its pariah status as a member of the “axis of evil” could some day be a thing of the past.
Pyongyang expects Bush to remove it from the U.S. list of terror-sponsoring countries as soon as this weekend, as promised when the North blew up its nuclear reactor cooling tower in June.
But Bush, speaking at a news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, said North Korea must first agree to international terms for verifying its dismantlement efforts.
The North, which exploded a nuclear device in 2006, is believed by experts to have produced enough weapons-grade plutonium to make as many as 10 nuclear bombs, and the U.S. has accused Pyongyang of running a second weapons program based on uranium.
Bush opened a three-nation Asian trip — his ninth — that will take him to Thailand later today, and then on to China at the end of the week for the Olympic Games in Beijing. With widespread talk of China’s repression of freedoms for its citizens leading into its hosting of the games, Bush pointedly called such policies by the communist regime “a mistake.”
“You should not fear religious people in your societies,” Bush said. “As a matter of fact, religious people will make your society a better place. You ought to welcome people being able to express their minds. To the extent that people aren’t able to do that, people aren’t able to worship freely is — you know — I think is a mistake.”
Bush’s South Korea visit provided a contrast, as he was greeted by dueling demonstrations by prayerful, flag-waving supporters of the U.S. president and rowdy protesters doused by police water cannons.
