Bush prods Vietnam on human rights

WASHINGTON, June 23 (UPI) -- President Bush used the first head-of-state visit of a Vietnamese leader to the United States to push for improved human rights.

Bush pressed President Nguyen Ming Triet to address abuses, including crackdowns on religious minorities, and to open up the Communist nation's political system to permit opposition.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Bush, with Triet at his side in the Oval Office, said, "I explained my strong belief that societies are enriched when people are allowed to express themselves freely or worship freely."

Triet was apparently nonplussed, offering no indication he intended to run his country differently. "We are also determined not to let those differences afflict our overall, larger interest," he said.