Bush's South Korean challenge

The border between North and South Korea is one of the most heavily fortified in the world

(CNN) -- One issue above all others is dominating President Bush's trip to East Asia, as it has dominated every other issue of American foreign and domestic policy since September 11, 2001.

Terrorism has overshadowed this visit since the originally scheduled October tour date was cancelled in the wake of the attacks -- and it is topping the agenda in meetings with the Japanese, South Korean and Chinese leaders.

The war in Afghanistan may be all but over -- although much remains to be done in that battered Central Asian country -- but the war on terrorism is, officials say, only just beginning and the central message of this visit is that Asia will be expected to play its part.

Now comes the hard part.

Bush's visit to South Korea, second stop on his three nation Asian tour, could prove the most diplomatically complex with Seoul still bristling from the president's vilification of North Korea as -- along with Iran and Iraq -- part of an "axis of evil."

Since they were first uttered in Bush's January State of the Union address those comments have generated ripples of uncertainty across East Asia, with heated debate about what this apparent next focus of the war on terrorism means for the region.

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For South Korean President Kim Dae Jung the ambiguity -- deliberate or otherwise -- over what exactly Bush plans to do about the North Korean "threat" is a focus of anxiety.

Despite an almost total standstill in North-South relations over the past year Kim remains committed to his "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with the communist North.

High hopes

The highpoint of that policy came almost two years ago with the historic Inter-Korean summit meeting between the South Korean leader and his reclusive North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il.

The meeting raised hopes of a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and won the South Korean president the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001.

Since then however a brief spurt of family reunions has died off and relations between North and South have stumbled to a halt with Pyongyang laying the blame squarely on tense relations with the U.S.

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Hopes that the policy of engagement might open up North Korea's tightly controlled society have come to nothing, and several South Korean conservative opposition politicians have begun to call for a return to a harder line on Pyongyang.

For his part Bush has said he supports Kim's Sunshine Policy whilst warning that "America will not allow North Korea and other dangerous regimes to threaten freedom with weapons of mass destruction."

The 2000 Inter-Korean summit marked the highpoint of "Sunshine" diplomacy

Many South Koreans continue to believe President Kim's approach offers the best prospects for peace and several student groups have vowed to take to the streets during Bush's visit to protest against the damage they say Bush's "axis" comments are doing to those efforts.

South Korean officials have also expressed quiet concern that a man who on the one hand stresses the importance of alliances, also appears to be making policy speeches that undermine them.

And herein lies the diplomatic challenge -- trying to balance the need any U.S. wartime president feels to appeal to a domestic audience; while at the same time maintaining ties with an important Asian ally, and one that plays host to some 50,000 U.S. troops.

It will take a careful hand to maintain the administration's avowed tough line on North Korea whilst at the same time avoiding treading too heavily on any South Korean toes.

Much attention therefore will focus on how much Bush emphasizes dialogue versus the emphasis he places on the "evil" nature of the North Korean regime.

Too much of the latter (confrontation) and not enough of talk of the former (reconciliation) could make Bush's visit to South Korea an uncomfortable one.