President Bush delivered his first State of the Union Address since he was inaugurated for his second and final term in office, at 11 am on February 3rd (Korean time). Many people here were greatly interested in how President Bush would comment on North Korea in his address before the Congress. Some worried that he would take a firm attitude toward North Korea. However, he did not make any direct statement on North Korea during the address, only suggesting that he is willing to address North Korea's nuclear issue in a peaceful manner. In the address, he directly mentioned North Korea only in a line that stated that the US was working in collaboration with many Asian governments to make North Korea abandon its nuclear ambitions. However, the question of whether America's policies toward North Korea will be tough or moderate may not be an appropriate question to be asked.

This State of the Union Address was more focused on American domestic issues rather than global ones. It was different from those of the last 3 years, given that the ratio between national to global issues that he mentioned during the address was almost 7:5. The domestic issues that he mentioned showed his willingness to maintain policies even closer to the principles of a liberal market economy, the foundation of the American economic policies especially since the era of President Reagan.

In short, what he remarked about global politics during the address can be summarized as ¡®a report on America's victory in the war with Iraq'. Above all, more than a third of his remarks on global issues were focused on Iraq. The US was being loudly criticized that it won the war with Iraq but not the political supports form the Iraqi people. Yet given the number of Iraqi people who went to the polls on January 30th, the idealistic foreign policies of the Bush administration began to show some extent of results. It turned out that the people in Iraq now long for democracy and that the democratic regimes can be established even in the Middle East regions. President Bush expressed in simple sentences that the experience in Iraq has been a 'success' and that his desire is to expand that experience not only to the regions of the Middle East but also toward the whole world.

"Gradually, less and less regimes are advocating terrorism or supporting terrorists. Although there are still a few nations that seek to possess weapons of mass destruction, they can no longer escape our strict surveillance and cannot help paying the cost", President Bush said. "The US is still a target of those who attempt to destroy this country, but it will maintain its aggressive posture until it wins the war on terrorism." He also mentioned Iran and Syria among other nations in the Middle East, but he made it clear that his global strategies covered the entire world as well as the Middle East, by saying "The US, with an aim towards eradicating tyranny in the whole world, will in collaboration with its allies support any movement for democracy that is carried out in every area, including the Middle East."

The second Bush administration has begun to call its enemies in the war on terrorism "Outposts of Tyranny" instead of members of an "Axis of Evil." There must be differences in the ways for the US to attack "Axis" nations and "Outpost" nations. Unlike the ¡®Axis', the ¡®Outpost' can be dealt with independent and case by case manners.

By using the term ¡®Tyranny', the US redefined its enemies in the war on terrorism as "regimes suppressing people," not "nations making weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons." He said that "We are witnessing landmark events in the history of liberty," full of confidence. "Landmark events in the history of liberty" refers to Afghanistan and Iraq, that finally directly elected their national leaders through legal elections after 9.11, and Libya that became a true partner of the West after two decades of isolation. He also declared that "and in coming years, we will add to that history." It is needless to say that North Korea will be one of the nations the Bush regime wants to add to the landmark events in the history of liberty.

Choon Kun Lee (Ph. D Vice president, Center for Free Enterprise)