George W. Bush blasts Trump's inclusion of North Korea in new travel ban: report

George W. Bush on Thursday criticized Donald Trump’s decision to add North Korea to a list of nations whose citizens are banned from traveling to the United States, Business Insider reports.

The former president made the comments at a private dinner at the Korea Society, during a Q&A session with Victor Cha—who served as Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council during Bush’s Administration.

A source told Business Insider Bush expressed concern over the impact the travel ban will have on “dissidents and defectors” seeking freedom from the regime. The source also said Bush compared Trump’s travel ban with the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which provided humanitarian aid North Koreans and promoted human rights within the country.

Bush also addressed whether North and South Korea would every reunify. ”I'm 71, so not in my lifetime,” he said.

Bush’s spokesman Freddy Ford told Business Insider the former president did not criticize Trump’s travel ban, but acknowledged he discussed “in broader strokes, welcoming and supporting dissidents, as he has for years, and referred to the Bush Institute’s longstanding and ongoing work in that area."