US President George W. Bush left Seoul for Beijing Thursday for a two-day visit.
During his visit in South Korea, Bush urged Pyongyang to immediately resume dialogue with Washington and Seoul for settlement of the Korean Peninsula issues involving weapons of mass destruction.
The Korean Peninsula issues should be addressed peacefully and the United States supports South Korean President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy" of engaging the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), he said.
Bush also pointed out that his country has no plan to launch military strikes against the DPRK and will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the DPRK irrespective of the resumption of Washington-Pyongyang dialogue.
Bush came to Seoul Tuesday afternoon for a two-day visit amid mixed South Korean feelings of expectation and exasperation as he branded the DPRK as part of the "axis of evil" last month, which Pyongyang described as a declaration of war.
South Korea is the second leg of Bush's Northeast Asia trip, which has taken him to Japan.
((Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2002)
