CHICAGO -- President Bush said it again.
During his recent visit to South Korea, he peered at North Korea as he stood in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two nations, pondered an ax murder of American soldiers in that zone and mused, "No wonder I think it's evil."
He called North Korea a despotic regime that starves its citizens and feeds its military. He implied that while he was willing to talk, North Korea was unresponsive.
And once again I thought of the North Koreans I have come to know. Refugees from the famine that has afflicted that nation since 1994, they crossed the Tumen River into China in desperation. Farmers, intellectuals, Communist Party cadres, factory workers, artists and musicians, they left the certainty of starvation for the uncertain life of an illegal migrant.
They form a wave of refugees from North Korea the like of which hasn't been seen since the 1950-1953 Korean War. Out of a population of about 21 million, nearly a million or more have fled in the past six years. Some find their way to South Korea, but most are in China, where their presence is illegal.
You might expect them to agree with Mr. Bush. Yet most do not. The refugees I spoke with were nearly unanimous in their belief that North Korea is ready to open up. They are baffled that America views North Korea -- a starving, impoverished nation -- as a threat.
In their view, North Korea doesn't want confrontation, much less war, with the United States. North Korea wants respect and friends. So these North Koreans wish America, South Korea and Japan would make friends with North Korea. They want peace on the Korean peninsula because they believe that only peace will open the way for political and economic reforms in North Korea. Such reforms, they believe, will improve the quality of life for average North Koreans.
But making friends with North Korea also would improve the prospects of regional stability and, thereby, the national security of the United States. Friends don't wage war on each other. Friends don't carry out terrorist campaigns against each other.
So far, Mr. Bush isn't too hot at this making friends business. He undermined South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy" of engagement with the North and once again cast North Korea as a rogue nation that threatens the civilized world. Although he says he's willing to talk with the North, he's not willing to make it a priority. Too bad, because Mr. Bush's tough talk and aloof attitude are a disservice to both Koreans and Americans.
