WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday he will not pursue a personal relationship with North Korea's top leader, whom he once called a tyrant and a dangerous man.
"I learned that it's important to establish a personal relations with leaders even though you may not agree with them," Bush said at a White House press conference that dealt mainly with the domestic economy.
But he limited it to "certain leaders" and added, "Now, I am not going to have a personal relationship with Kim Jong-il," referring to the North Korean leader.
"And our relationships are such that that's impossible," he said.
Bush said U.S. relations with Russia, however, are important. "And therefore, my advice is to establish a personal relationship with whoever is in charge of foreign policy in Russia. It's in our country's interests to do so."
The comment was the harshest in recent days against Pyongyang by Bush, who in his State of the Union address this year dropped all mention of North Korea. His former addresses criticized North Korea as a dictatorial regime that oppresses and starves its people. In the 2002 State of the Union, he called Pyongyang part of an "axis of evil."
The U.S. and North Korea are members of the six-party talks, also involving South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. After years of estrangement during the first term, the Bush administration re-engaged Pyongyang and struck a series of deals laying out a roadmap toward
eventual dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons and programs.
The negotiations have been snagged since Pyongyang missed the Dec. 31, 2007, deadline to declare fully its atomic activities and any proliferation.
Bush sent a personal letter to the North Korean leader in early December, calling him "Dear Mr. Chairman" and ending with "Sincerely." Kim's official title is chairman of the National Defense Commission.
The letter urged North Korea's full adherence to the six-party agreements and reaffirmed a U.S. commitment to implement its obligations under the deals.
North Korea has yet to respond formally with a missive but sent a verbal response through its U.N. mission in New York. (Yonhap)