U.S. keeps up drumbeat of criticism against North

WASHINGTON - Senior officials of the Bush administration repeatedly took a tough line on North Korea in statements Wednesday.

"We have seen no evidence that Pyeongyang has abandoned its goal of eventual reunification of the peninsula under the North's control," warned George Tenet, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In testimony before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Mr. Tenet criticized the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il for reluctance to pursue "constructive dialogue" and "meaningful reform." Pyeongyang should not walk away from the Agreed Framework that freezes its nuclear program, he said.

Washington's evidence for labeling North Korea part of an "axis of evil" is its ballistic missile program, Mr. Tenet said. He forecast that by 2015 both Iraq and North Korea would have intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of threatening the United States.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld again asserted that North Korea, along with Iran and Iraq, had taken an active part in multilateral programs of weapons of mass destruction, in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee.

Admiral Dennis Blair, commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Command, said Thursday in Seoul that North Korea is potentially dangerous to global security and peace because of its missile proliferation and drug trafficking. An inter-Korean peace accord will be possible only after Pyeongyang's threats to the South subside, Admiral Blair said.

As Washington's stance toward the North hardens, Seoul is seeking to calm tensions. Yang Sung-chul, South Korean ambassador to the United States, was sent back to Washington Thursday, earlier than scheduled, in order to expedite coordination of North Korea policies with the White House and the U.S. State Department. Choi Sung-hong, the South Korean foreign minister, met Thomas Hubbard, U.S. ambassador in Seoul, and repeated that tension between Pyeongyang and Washington must be resolved peacefully through dialogue.

Washington's criticism has North Korea worried about the possibility of becoming another Afghanistan, James Hoare, British charge d'affaires in the North, said Thursday. Mr. Hoare, who was in Pyeongyang at the time of Mr. Bush's State of the Union address on Jan. 29, met with reporters during a visit to Seoul.

by Kim Jin