LOS ANGELES -- I'm sorry, but President George W. Bush just doesn't get South Korea and he doesn't understand its president, Roh Moo Hyun, either. And I doubt he ever will.
That was evident from the desultory summit at the White House when Roh visited Washington last week. The aim was to paper over differences in the U.S.-South Korean approach toward North Korea, the obstreperous Communist hermit state that is almost the last place on Earth where Stalin's ghost still hangs his cruel hat.
The diplomatic paper-job was at best tissue-thin. The personality differences between Bush and Roh both reflect and transcend the gulf between the two countries' negotiating instincts regarding the North, which are large.