And is apparently preparing his remarks on the subject for next month’s visit. Perhaps his words can mollify the protestors planning to greet him.

Update: Maybe the president really does care about the issue. The Chosun Ilbo reports that in a meeting with reporters from the Chosun Ilbo, Bangkok Post, China’s People’s Daily and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, President Bush said that, “the Dokdo database will be returned to its previous state of seven days ago” and called for Korea and Japan to come to a peaceful resolution of the dispute. The paper says that he spoke knowledgeably on Dokdo, Ulleung-do, and Korea and Japan in general. Also, in a brief interview with the Chosun Ambassador Lee said that, “our current goal is for the name Dokdo to be used generally,” rather than Liancourt Rocks.

The South Korean Embassy in the United States announced on the 30th that US President George Bush is aware of the current problems related to the Dokdo situation and has ordered the Secretary of State to look into it.

Ahead of President Bush’s visit to South Korea next month he received a briefing on the Dokdo issue by the Secretary of State, according to which there is attention was paid to possibly reversing the decision of the Board of Geographic Names to list Dokdo as a “territory of undesignated nationality”.

After a White House ROK-US FTA ratification meeting last month President Bush met with Lee Tae-shik, the South Korean ambassador, and told him, “I understand the Dokdo issue,” adding, “Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has been ordered to investigate the issue,” according to a spokesman from the Embassy.

After listening to Ambassador Lee about the seriousness of the Dokdo issue and his demands for action, President Bush said, “it’s a geographical problem, of course. I understand it,” and mentioning the name of Secretary Rice, said that he expected the State Department to investigate ways to solve the matter.

Ahead of his visit to South Korea President Bush had invited Ambassador Lee and others to the ROK-US FTA ratification meeting, after which he and the ambassador had a private conversation.

According to President Bush’s order to Secretary Rice to investigate the continuing Dokdo issue, the Department of State and related authorities are to seek a solution.

In particular, amid assertions that the US Board of Geographic Names cannot reverse its decision to call Dokdo an “area of undesignated nationality”, there is considerable interest over whether President bush’s order to investigate and deal with the issue may cause it to be overturned.