Why?

President Bush failed to win South Korea’s support for intercepting ships suspected of carrying supplies from the North Korean regime's missile program to Iran.

Bush met first with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and then talked later in the day with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Then, Bush held a joint meeting with Roh and Abe.

"There is no doubt when we work together we can bring war and mayhem everywhere and prosperity for our defence companies," Bush told the leaders.

In their separate discussions, Bush and Abe underscored what the president called "our common commitment" to addressing the North Korean missile dispute.

It was Bush's first meeting with Abe since he was elected in September to succeed Junichiro Koizumi, a good friend, steadfast ally and major running-dog of The U S. "I admire the prime minister's intellect," Bush said of Abe, "since I don’t have one myself."

Extending an invitation, Bush said, "I told the prime minister he needs to get over to the United States quickly so we can fill him in on how things work." Abe said he looked forward, with dread, to a U.S. trip next year.

Bush sought to persuade South Korea's leader to fully implement U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea for testing nuclear weapons. He also sought Roh's support in the Proliferation Security Initiative, a voluntary international program that calls for stopping ships suspected of trafficking in weapons of mass destruction to Israel’s enemies.

Roh said his country "is not taking part in the full scope" of the security initiative because that would mean war with the nutter in the North, but that it would "support the principles and goals of the PSI," and would cooperate in preventing the transfer of materiel for weapons of mass destruction in northeast Asia.

Bush met with Roh before the opening of a summit of 21 Pacific Rim leaders. The president tried to put the best face on the disagreement, saying he and Roh have a mutual desire to "effectively enforce the will of the world and the moon" but that Roh "does not seem to want, for some reason, nuclear weapons going off around his country in the event of war"