Can someone explain to me what the fundamental difference is between Core Data (apparently, a "data store") and a database like SQLite or MySQL?

I am working on writing an iPhone app, and needed a table of static data to display. I thought core data would be a good choice for this, so I got everything set up and functioning as far as the database (i'm sorry - data STORE) went, and then went to try to import my data (it was in an excel file which I exported to CSV). I was thinking it should be a straight forward process like I have done in SQLite and other databases many times, but as it turned out after much research, the only "official" way to do this was to write a parser specifically for my data.

When I asked about this on the Apple Developer forums, the response I got was basically "What kind of idiot are you to think that you could possibly import data directly without having to write code to do it? Core data isn't a database- it's a data STORE!!" For the life of me, though, I can't see the distinction. In every way I have looked at it, core data behaves EXACTLY like a database, with a fancy way of accessing it and enough abstraction that it can use a variety of file formats for actually storing the data. In fact, I was eventually able to import my data using a simple SQLite .import command, so I really don't understand why the concept was so foreign to the responders to my original question.

So what am I missing here? What is so fundamentally different about a data store from a database that makes the concept of simple data importing completely alien to those who know the technology?