After a administration review of Korea policy, Mr. Powell won the argument.

I take very strong exception to the implication that my opposition to the Administration's Korea policy evinces casual disregard for the tragedy of war.

The Administration's Korea policies continue to draw fire from Congressional Republicans.

Such instability is frustrating to the Clinton Administration, which has to conduct trade negotiations and coordinate Korea policy with officials who may be out of office before deals are ready to be clinched.

Yet the Bush administration's Korea policy has systematically violated that simple principle.

He says the State Department controls Korea policy and realizes that "the military option is almost nonexistent."

"The North Koreans don't deserve this advantage, but the opportunity to divide the alliance was created by two years of drift in Korea policy, and their timing is impeccable," he said.

Many critics of the Clinton administration's Korea policy agree that although the last few years of efforts to engage North Korea were rocky, they still produced significant achievements.

He carefully sidestepped a question about whether it was time for the United States to re-evaluate its Korea policy and to discuss further links with North Korea.

"Every time the North Koreans do something defiant or something stupid, all it does is harden the view that they could never be trusted to execute whatever deal we strike," a senior Administration official involved in Korea policy said this week.