N. Korea Issue Irks Congress
Key Democrats Kept in Dark On Admission Before Iraq Vote
By Mike Allen and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 19, 2002; Page A01
The White House withheld North Korea's admission about a nuclear weapons program from key Democrats until after Congress had passed its resolution authorizing war with Iraq, prompting complaints on Capitol Hill that the administration has let politics influence its conduct of foreign affairs.
Several senators said through their aides that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did not mention North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program during a classified briefing held in a secure chamber less than three hours before two senior administration officials revealed the news in a conference call with four reporters.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said he learned about the weapons program from newspaper articles the next morning, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said he was told about two hours ahead of the press. At least two Republican senators said they had earlier received individual briefings from Assistant Secretary of State James A. Kelly.
Democrats on Capitol Hill were critical yesterday of the 12-day gap between the admission by North Korea and the administration's disclosure. During that time, Congress passed the Iraq resolution, and President Bush signed it hours before the 7 p.m. disclosure about North Korea. Administration officials said they revealed the information because former Clinton administration officials had leaked the news after learning about it from State Department contacts. Democrats said the episode could further impair the administration's already fragile relations with Congress.
"Senators are concerned and troubled by it," a Democratic leadership aide said. "This cloud of secrecy raises questions about whether there are other pieces to this puzzle they don't know about."
Administration officials said they briefed some Democratic House staff members and offered to brief at least one House Democrat and one Senate Democrat, although those briefings did not occur. "We did this very methodically," a senior administration official said. "What's the first question the Hill is going to ask? 'What does South Korea think? What does Japan think?' That's what we were trying to figure out. There was a lot going on."
Bush remained silent on the North Korea developments yesterday for the second day in a row, although he continued to use speeches along the campaign trail to condemn Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as "a true and real threat." White House officials said the issue was best handled through diplomatic channels and said Bush would seek "a peaceful resolution."
Bush has not let the world turmoil deter him from his campaign schedule leading up to the Nov. 5 elections, which has fueled Democratic suspicions about his motives for trying to keep international attention on Iraq and its alleged ties to al Qaeda. He made stops in four states over the past two days and is scheduled to barnstorm five more next week. Bush also plans to go to McLean on Monday to meet with people who have donated at least $250,000 to the Republican Party.
White House officials said the revelation about North Korea would not change the administration's plan to disarm Iraq and ultimately oust Hussein. "This president is disciplined and focused," a senior administration official said. "The president has made a determination that Iraq is a serious threat that needs to be dealt with immediately. Nothing has changed to alter that determination."
Several Democratic senators said that taken together, the administration's handling of the North Korean admission suggested a single-minded focus on Iraq that could potentially cause problems. "When you put all your eggs in one basket the way they have for these last months, it leaves you exposed in other places," said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who may run against Bush in 2004.
Kerry said knowing about North Korea's admission probably would not have changed his vote for the Iraq resolution, but he said full disclosure is important to building trust and conducting a fair debate. "As you have briefings, you'll wonder whether there's something else out there," he said.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who has taken issue with Bush's assertion that Iraq poses an urgent threat, was informed by Kelly ahead of Democratic leaders. Hagel said he was briefed for at least 90 minutes early this week. Hagel said he first learned about North Korea's admission during an Oct. 9 conversation with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. "The administration was continuing to work with our allies on this -- to button down enough of the gaps they had before they then went up to brief people on Capitol Hill, which I completely understand," Hagel said. Other senior Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.), were not briefed.
The CIA briefed selected lawmakers from both parties about nuclear intelligence that Kelly planned to take to North Korean officials. When Kelly confronted the North Koreans with the intelligence, they admitted the activity on Oct. 4.
Bush's decision to address the North Korean crisis through diplomatic means, in consultation with regional allies and friends, has drawn criticism from conservative quarters that believe Pyongyang should be dealt with in the same way as Iraq. In a "Memorandum to Opinion Leaders" distributed Thursday, the Project for the New American Century praised Bush's initial distrust of North Korea and his "instinctive" rejection of President Bill Clinton's engagement policy.
Much of the top civilian leadership at the Defense Department, including Rumsfeld, belonged to the New American Century organization before joining the administration, and signed a 1998 letter to Clinton urging that he abandon his "containment" policy with Iraq and take more aggressive "regime change" action against Saddam Hussein.
"Understandably," the Thursday memo said, "the president [now] wishes to deal with the enormous threat he has identified from Iraq without being distracted by a crisis in North Korea. He should not do so however at the expense of clarity about the threat posed by Pyongyang and the need for the regime to be replaced. In that connection," it said, "statements from administration officials . . . apparently recommitting the administration to the failed policy of never-ending diplomacy with [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Il are of real concern."
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